After nearly two years of planning, a proposed mixed-use development near the border of Jersey City’s Greenville and Bergen-Lafayette neighborhoods has finally been approved.
For many years, the property at 524-530 Ocean Avenue, at the southeast corner of Bayview Avenue in Ward F, sat vacant, despite its prominent location. Then, in 2011, some community members took the initiative to beautify the property by transforming it into the Blossoming Ivy & Project GREAT Community Garden, which later became the Urban Action Community Garden (UACG). Flowers along with organic fruits and vegetables were grown at the site.
A few years later, in November 2015, the City of Jersey City announced plans to develop housing at the property with units reserved for veterans experiencing homelessness, and issued a Request for Proposals. The following year, the City sold the property for $1 to the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency (JCRA) “to effectuate the rehabilitation, redevelopment, and revitalization of the Ocean/Bayview Redevelopment Area,” and authorized an Affordable Housing Trust Fund contract with the designated developer, Jersey City-based Terzetto NJ, LLC.
Terzetto NJ’s application for Preliminary and Final Major Site Plan was approved by the Jersey City Planning Board last month. The meeting agenda shows that the structure is slated to be four stories tall with 20 residential units, 14 parking spaces, and 1,606 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor. Nine of the units would be designated as affordable.
City records show that a minimum of 10% of the units will be for veterans experiencing homelessness while the rest will prioritize veterans. Some of the remaining units “will be maintained at affordability levels between 50% and 120% [of the] area median income,” according to the City. The project could receive $800,000 of HOME funding from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, according to a legal notice.
In addition, records from the JCRA show that Debra Tantleff of Terzetto NJ testified last year that social service agencies that “are intended to provide complimentary supportive services to the project” will occupy the ground floor retail space, and that Community Hope will also occupy space inside. Tantleff also stated that the units will be a mixture of one-bedrooms and two-bedrooms, and that while Terzetto NJ will continue to own and maintain the building once it is finished, Philadelphia-based Pennrose will manage the property.
According to UACG’s Facebook page, the organization is currently seeking a new location for a garden and a community center.
