While an approved plan that would have added new housing, a community center, and various other amenities to a post-industrial site in Jersey City has officially been axed, a new proposal that could still create some additional residential development is coming together behind the scenes.
Last month, the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency voted unanimously to terminate its redevelopment agreement with the developer of 417 Communipaw Avenue. The project, a 3.3-acre parcel once occupied by Steel Technologies, is perched down the street from the 17-acre Berry Lane Park.
Jersey City’s Planning Board approved the now-canceled project in early 2023. The company behind the effort was Skyline Development Group, who have built Soho Lofts among other prominent Jersey City projects.
The redevelopment was to be anchored by a 17-story tower to rise 190 feet and include 7,425 square feet of retail on the ground floor. The endeavor would have also seen the existing Steet Tech Head House adaptively reused and included the construction of a new three-story 22,000-square-foot recreation center alongside a Minority Business Enterprise Success Incubator and Micro Plaza spanning an additional 14,000 square feet.
Despite all the components of the plan, the development never really got off the ground. Our profile of development in the Bergen-Lafayette neighborhood from last year noted the lack of progress at the property, which sat mostly unchanged over two years after the project’s approval.
Despite the JCRA’s termination of the redevelopment deal, some work has still continued at the site. A one-story warehouse building was demolished at the property over the summer, and new permits were filed with the city in January to remove a 550-gallon oil tank currently on the parcel.
The property owners also began the process back in August of last year to submit a proposal to amend the Berry Lane Park North Zone of the Morris Canal Redevelopment Plan, which governs the area. While the changes being sought have not been disclosed, another application for the address sheds some light on what is being planned for the parcel.
A separate application has been filed for the 417 Communipaw Avenue address, looking to build a six-story residential building with 372 residential units and an internal parking garage. The residences in the proposed development thus far are skewing smaller, breaking down as 218 studios and one-bedrooms, 139 two-bedrooms, and 15 three-bedroom spaces.
The submitted details of the application, while brief, do not mention any of the previously approved community benefits in the now-canceled proposal, and don’t disclose how the existing Steel Tech building, still intact at the site, may be adaptively reused, if at all.
Further details about the second try at redeveloping Steel Tech could emerge in the coming months, as additional paperwork is submitted to the city, fleshing out the possible future for the site.
