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Jersey City Real Estate
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July 29, 2007 08:44:54
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24 YEARS IN THE MAKING
Saturday, July 28, 2007
By LYSA CHEN
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
More than 20 years after the original plans were drawn, Jersey City's massive Liberty Harbor is ready to become a reality.
The first residents of the Jersey City's newest Downtown neighborhood are expected to move in by the end of the summer, bringing to an end the first phase of a development that first went before the city planning board as Liberty Harbor North in 1983.
"We're literally weeks away from human beings living, socializing and participating in life at Liberty Harbor," said Peter Mocco, the project's developer. "People are going to be moving in, going to restaurants, going to retail stores and taking advantage of our waterfront."
Jeffery Zak, project manager and developer, said 700 units of housing and approximately 20,000 square feet of retail are nearly complete, and 80 percent of the condos offered for sale since October 2006 have already been sold. Now developers are just waiting for a few finishing touches on the project's first phase of construction before residents can move in, Zak said.
"All finished surfaces, streetscapes, bluestone sidewalks and decorative pavings are being installed at this moment, so the project visually is really coming to life," he said.
The 80-acre Liberty Harbor - which will take a total of about 15 to 20 more years to fully complete - was heralded in the 1980s as a cross between New York's Greenwich Village and the Upper West Side. It was also hyped as the project that would lead the way in the redevelopment of the Downtown area.
Liberty Harbor is bordered by the Morris Canal to the south, Marin Boulevard to the east, Grand Street to the north and Jersey Avenue to the west. Different versions of the plan had been under discussion for 20 years before it finally came together in 2003. The original plan called for the project to cover 3,000 acres.
Leon Yost, a member of the Jersey City planning board, said it is rewarding to see the project finally come to fruition.
"It's been excruciatingly long," he said. "There have been plenty of people who said it wouldn't happen, and it's happening."
Bill Bromirski, a member of the planning board throughout the project's early stages, agreed.
Bromirski, who sat on the board for more than 30 years, said he was involved in many of the city's redevelopment projects that are just now starting to sprout up.
"It took a while for them to catch on, but they're going to be here for a long time after we're gone," Bromirski said. "I'm very proud of everything I did."
Liberty Harbor, in particular, is something to be proud of, Mocco said, describing it as the "most unique project in the country right now."
Mocco said the city is focusing on the look of the project, which currently has more than 18 different architects designing buildings and drafting plans. The goal is to create "really nice neighborhoods and livable streets," he said.
Bromirski said he has noticed the project's attention to detail during his walks past the construction area.
"Each building is not uniform, so everything is extra special," he said.
Half of the first phase's housing units are rentals which will range in price from $1,500 to $3,000 per month, Zak said. The other half are condos ranging from $275,000 to $600,000, he said.
The next phase of Liberty Harbor, approved this spring by the planning board, will add 1,000 residential units and 80,000 square feet of retail, Zak said. Construction will begin next year, he said.
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