A large parcel along the fringes of Downtown Jersey City with a checkered past will soon be reborn into a pair of connected residential towers that will create several new roads and improve infrastructure in the area.
During their July 23 meeting, Jersey City’s Planning Board greenlit a proposal for properties known as 185 Monmouth Street and 52 Aetna Street. The plots, which span just over five acres, were once used as an unregulated landfill until the 1980s according to records and reports from the Department of Environmental Protection.
Jersey Digs first reported on the project back in January when the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency (JCRA) held a special meeting on the proposal. The JCRA ended up selling the property for $30 million to a West Orange-based company called Grand Jersey Group LLC.
Drawn up by Hoboken-based MHS Architecture, the project is set to consist of two 27-story mixed-use towers including a six-story base. A garage with space for 726 cars will be located on the western portion of the parcel, while the pair of high-rises would top out at 334 feet and take up the eastern area of the lots.
A total of 515 rental apartments are included in the project, breaking down as 132 studios, 280 one-bedrooms, and 101 two-bedrooms. No affordable housing component is included in the plans.
Under the terms of a deal with the JCRA, the developer will be taking on the infrastructure responsibilities and costs associated with the project. They include the extension of Monmouth Street South and the creation of several new two-lane roads to be called Center Street, Morris Street, and Park View Avenue that would surround the property.
The project also proposes a plaza area at the corner of the future Monmouth Street and Morris Street intersection just north of the future building and a public dog park facility along what will be Center Street.
In terms of the other details of the development, a 30,186 square foot two-floor retail space is set to front the Monmouth Street extension. Floors three through six will sport an office space component, with about 45,000 square feet on each floor.
The development is slated to include three outdoor terraces; one on the sixth floor will sport a roof terrace area spanning 23,000 square feet that includes outdoor tennis courts and a basketball area, while a seventh-floor space situated between the towers includes a pool plus an indoor area.
The final outdoor terrace will be situated on the 27th floor for a true rooftop vibe and looks to take advantage of the nearby views of Downtown Jersey City, the Hudson River, and Manhattan.
The development was granted a whopping 12 variances from current zoning it was approved, although ten of them were related to the creation of the new roadways. A groundbreaking date for the project has not been announced.
