One of the busiest roadways in Jersey City is slated to get a new Wendy’s facility alongside a revamp that looks to better connect the property with the surrounding neighborhood.
During their June 14 meeting, Jersey City’s planning board voted 5-0 to approve a plan that will bring one of fast food’s biggest names to 245 12th Street. The 31,500-square-foot property, which spans about three-quarters of an acre, is situated off the eastbound portion of the I-78 overlay adjacent to the exit ramp for Newport and Hamilton Park.
Currently home to an Exxon gas station, the property has 210 feet of frontage along the south side of 12th Street and 150 feet of frontage along Jersey Avenue. A company called Yum & Chill Wen Holdings LLC has been given the green light to demolish an existing car wash and three fuel pumps on the southern portion of the property and build two new structures on the land.
Drawn up by Newark-based Zelta Design, the first portion of the plan involves construction of a 1,622-square foot Wendy’s restaurant complete with a dine-in area plus a drive-thru. Just steps away, a new 1,600-square-foot convenience store is slated to be built along the southern portion of the property.
The drive-thru for the Wendy’s will be located along the eastern portion of the property, giving those headed towards the Holland Tunnel easy access. But the revamp of the property also looks to blend into the residential areas directly south as well, as a new pedestrian walkway and landscaped area will be built at the corner of 12th Street and Jersey Avenue as part of the project.
The overhaul of the property will add 11 additional on-site parking spaces for employees and customers and be planting ten new street trees, three of which will be situated along Jersey Avenue. The planning board granted the application variances related to the development’s lot coverage and Green Area Ratio.
The 12th Street outpost will be Wendy’s fourth Jersey City restaurant and first to open Downtown following locations along Garfield Avenue, Stadium Plaza, and their most recent inside the Journal Square PATH station. A groundbreaking date for the project has not been announced.
