Several neighboring properties in Union City that have been fenced off for years could become the site of a major development project.
A public notice issued on July 8 claims that Sky Pointe, LLC is planning a new complex on multiple tracts near the corner of Mountain Road and Manhattan Avenue. The proposed development, which would be built on lots including 1502-1504, 1506-1510, 1512, 1514-1516, and 1518 Manhattan Avenue along with 286, 290, 292, 300, and 302-304 Mountain Road, calls for two new buildings to be constructed. NJ Parcels’ records state that the properties in question are largely owned by Sky Pointe, LLC, which was initially registered out of the 28th floor of 800 3rd Avenue in Manhattan, an address used by several law firms.
There would be a total of 99 “spacious” residential units on the Union City parcels, according to the notice, including a mixture of one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and three-bedroom units. It is not clear if the residential portion of the project would consist of apartments or condominiums, nor is it known if any of the units would be designated as “affordable housing.” What is mentioned in the notice is that “the first-floor units will have private garden spaces on the side of the building” while the units above would have “a small amount of private outdoor space.”
Should the project move forward as currently planned, one of the buildings would be on the Manhattan Avenue side of the premises while the other would face Mountain Road. In between the two structures, an 8,500-square-foot public park that would be dedicated to the City of Union City and include “an expansive viewing platform from the Palisades cliffs providing views of the Hudson River” is being proposed, per the notice. Below the park and the two buildings, a parking garage would provide 185 parking spaces for residents of the complex.
The notice did not include any details about the developer or contact information aside from the name of the LLC. However, it did mention that more information about the project was expected to be revealed during a community meeting this week. As of when the notice was issued, the meeting was scheduled for Thursday, July 18, at Union City’s Colin Powell Elementary School. However, a subsequent notice issued on July 17 by Sills Cummis & Gross P.C. stated that the meeting was canceled.
Located not far from Troy Towers along with the municipal limits of Weehawken and Hoboken, the gated properties include vacant houses with boarded-up windows, wooded lots, a private parking lot, the former Mountain View Condominiums building, and the former home of a construction company. Several of the tracts were the subject of a petition a few years ago that called for Union City’s municipal government to immediately demolish all of the vacant buildings that stand there and mentioned that “these buildings are a fire hazard, an eyesore, reduce our property values, and give Union City a disgusting presentation to visitors coming up the viaduct the first time.”
The news of a development being proposed on these properties comes amid the sale of multiple properties and other new development proposals in this vicinity. For instance, as Jersey Digs first reported in 2018, a 55-unit cliffside project called Hoboken Heights is in the works for nearby 1300 Manhattan Avenue, which was sold in April of this year for $7.45 million.
