The second act for one of the largest redevelopments along the Hudson River is moving forward following years of delays as a revamped design has been greenlit for the next portion of Jersey City Urby.
During their July 26 meeting, Jersey City’s planning board unanimously approved an application for a parking lot 191-201 Hudson Street. Jersey Digs reported last month on the plans for the land, which is currently hosting this year’s version of Smorgasburg.
The property will eventually be home to the second and final phases of Urby, a joint venture between Ironstate Development and Mack-Cali subsidiary Roseland Residential Trust. Construction of Urby’s first 69-story tower across the street wrapped in 2016 and quickly set leasing records.
The totality of the Urby plan always included a trio of 69-story towers with 2,358 residential units and the final phase intends to follow through on that vision. The reworked application still calls for two 69-story high rises topping out at 677 feet tall, but the “Jenga-like” nature of the second phase is scaled back a bit.
Per renderings revealed during the planning board meeting, the northernmost tower of Urby’s second phase will be straightforward and lack any offset sections. The southernmost tower will still have a similar feel to the initial Urby phase, although the offset sections are not as pronounced under the final approved version.
Designed by Toronto-based Concrete with HLW International as the architect of record, the final two towers are slated to consist of 1,606 residences and up to 164 of the units “shall be designated with a hotel use,” a detail never disclosed in the previous Urby proposal.
The lion’s share of the units, or 1,128 of them, would feature one bedroom, while 95 studios and 383 two-bedroom spaces would round out the project. The development’s application does not list any affordable housing component at the complex.
The ground floor of the two towers would include a combined 32,000 square feet of retail space split between five storefronts. A 4,489-square foot space will occupy the Hudson Street side of the building facing east, while a pair of storefronts will front Bay Street.
The remaining two retail spaces will be entered via the pedestrian walkway and park space that falls between the future Urby complex and the neighboring Harborside 5 complex to the south.
Urby’s final phase will also feature a 272-space parking garage base with a valet option plus a finished rooftop that connects the towers. Plans for the roof of the garage include an outdoor pool and landscaped garden hill, while other amenities at Urby’s second phase include a sprawling second-floor fitness center set to sport an indoor pool.
Attorneys for the developer stated during the planning board meeting that the base of the latest Urby complex would be built out first, then followed by one of the towers. The second tower would then be built after the completion of the first. An estimated timeline for the work was not indicated during the meeting.
