Harbor Lights Might Really Be Moving Forward

The long delayed Harbor lights project, a three building complex in the Powerhouse Arts District adjacent to the Waldo Lofts, has broken ground according to the Jersey Journal. The project supposedly conforms to the original PAD ordinances with artists' spaces and flexible loft layouts.

Harbor Lights is, like most projects, long delayed. Ground breaking for the site was first expected to happen more than a year ago. The sales office, pictured above with a Ferrari, has been open for at least a year as well. The original renderings showed a complex of three red brick buildings.

Grove Street Eating

The Asian fusion restaurant set to open in the old location of Rachel cafe on Grove Street is set to open on August 4. The signs refer to the restaurant as "More," but we find it hard to believe anyone would call a restaurant "More."



A new 'gourmet' deli has opened on Grove Street, replacing what had been a bodega.

Crystal Pointe

Crystal Pointe continues to rise on the tip of Second Street. The luxury residential high rise may be yet the most expensive prices per square foot.

Restaurant Week Begins Monday

Monday marks the beginning of Hudson Restaurant Week. Participants offer prix-fixe menus for lunch and dinner, starting at $13 and $23, respectively. Unfortunately, unlike New York's restaurant week, some participants charge more, and often the discount on the meal is minimal.

New downtown restaurants The Embankment and John's Pizza have joined the program. Both restaurants opened earlier this year. Also participating are two restaurants off of NJ Monthly Magazine's list of top 25 restaurants: Ox and Edward's Steakhouse.

Butler Brother's Warehouse Next on PAD Chopping Block

The 1905 Butler Brother's Warehouse may be the next razed building in the formerly historic Powerhouse Arts District. The owner of the warehouse says the building is ready to collapse, mirroring arguments made by Lloyd Goldman, owner of the former Lorillard warehouse.

The fight over 111 First Street began when the city refused to allow a tower to rise from the center of the structure. That set off a series of lawsuits, including those filed by artist tenants, and counter suits by the developer. Eventually Goldman claimed the warehouse ready to collapse due to structural problems.

The city settled the dispute by allowing the warehouse to come down; starachitect Rem Koolhaus announced a design for the site further appeasing city officials who enjoyed the wave of national attention from the announcement. The ambitious Koolhaus design with multiple cantilevers may not be built for quite sometime, if at all. The developer is currently using the property as a staging area for the under construction 110 First Street. But more importantly, the cantilevers may add high costs the developer is unwilling to bear, particularly in a slowing economy.

Next up was the Manishevitz factory bought by the Toll Brothers for three high rise towers. The city capitulated to their request to rezone the property, setting off fears in the preservationist community that they were opening the flood gates to high rise development in the former warehouse district. Apparently, they were right.

The Butler Warehouse is one proposed location for the Port Authority's substation that is currently adjacent to the Powerhouse. Work cannot commence on renovating the Powerhouse until the substation is moved. Another possible location is a parcel of land next to the Powerhouse that originally was planned as a park.

77 Hudson Street

The two towers continue to receive windows. The exterior of the north side of the parking garage appears finished.


The facade of the rental component at 70 Greene Street, looking up from Greene Street. In the fading light of dusk, the variation of the glass color is more evident than in previous photos.

Zoning Board Delays on Boniface Conversion

The renovation of Saint Boniface from an abandoned Catholic Church into 21 residential apartments was dealt a setback when the zoning board delayed action until September. Local residents who are under the impression they live in Jersey Suburb rather than Jersey City are concerned about the lack of parking. Fliers from local activists have littered the streets around the church, including taped to trees.

The Harsimus Cove Association is hosting a special meeting to attempt to work out concerns residents have with the developer.

Deli, Not Grocery For Paulus Hook

Paulus Hook residents may be disappointed to learn that Liberty Towers will be getting something more like a deli rather than a grocery store, according to the Life Vicarious. Paulus Hook doesn't have much in the way of real grocery stores, not that other neighborhoods are much better off considering the underwhelming PathMark and Shoprite.

American Watercolor Movement Grooves on Grove

Groove on Grove Street continued with indie rock band American Watercolor Movement. Wednesday proved another gorgeous day for an outdoor concert and local crowds seem to be growing. Grove Street may not be Mccarren Pool, but the concerts in Jersey City may be just a bit more genuine.

Shopping Carts Infest Downtown

Shopping carts from discount retailer BJ's Wholesale Club have begun littering downtown Jersey City. Its not just bag ladies either; the carts are rumored to have appeared in the hallways of new luxury apartment towers.

So far, neither BJ's nor the city have done much in the way of cracking down on the abandoned carts. One solution the city could implement is simply fining BJ's Wholesale Club for every cart found around the city. The retailer would probably quickly figure out a way to keep their carts on their lot.


A BJ's cart is tucked beside a motorcycle on Wayne Street


Outside of Grove Pointe, a cart lurks filled with plastic bags


Columbus Drive


Columbus Drive and Marin Blvd

UPDATE

Found another one in the Italian Village, First Street.


UPDATE 2

Newark Avenue Parking Lot

Second Street. This is the nearest to BJ's of any of the carts, at just two blocks away. Also, someone was brown-bagging it and left their bottle in the cart.

Condos Approved for St. Boniface

Saint Boniface, formerly a Catholic church, will be converted into 14 apartments, as noted by Jersey City Reader. The historic preservation commission has granted approval for the conversion, a necessary step in the protected neighborhood.

A total of 21 units will be built on the property, including 3 in the rectory, and four more in a lot on second Street. All the units will share a common courtyard.

The church is on First Street between Jersey Avenue and Erie Street.


The rear of the church is attached to parking lot that connects to Second Street. The lot will be removed and a new building erected. Some residents are concerned that the neighborhood will be short on parking, but apartments make better neighbors than parking lots or garages.


Another angle of the parking lot




The historic preservation commission was concerned about the loss of the stained glass windows, though vandals and time have already done their part







The rectory building adjacent to the church will also be converted to apartments

Liberty Harbor North Continues, Slowly

Progress at the massive Liberty Harbor North project continues at a snail's pace. Rumors are circulating that only the existing construction will continue, and new buildings will not break ground for at least a year. This news may disappoint many hoping for a downtown Whole Foods since an Liberty Harbor was often mentioned as a potential location for the gourmet grocer.



Building 3 continues to grow, albeit at an extremely slow pace. To the right, the Lofts rental tower. The lofts building still needs finishes.

296 Grand Street

Diner to be Supersized

The Brownstone Diner, a downtown eatery featured a few months back on the Food Network, is preparing for massive expansion. The two story renovation is scheduled to begin in the fall of 2008, according to their website. The diner only finished its most recent renovation three years ago, though long lines plague the establishment. The rendering shows a double story design with a balcony and turrets.

New Construction on Jersey Avenue

An empty lot where Christmas Trees were once sold has a new foundation. The corner lot at Jersey Avenue and First Street, just off Newark Avenue, has sat empty for years. But the chain link fence will soon be replaced by a new structure as a foundation has already been laid.

Retail Happenings

Shoes are out and deli meats are in over on Jersey Avenue where Marow Deli has replaced the former Shoe Fetish. The best news is the deli promises 24-hour a day service, meaning another set of eyes watching the street.



Sawa Steakhouse and Sushi bar is closer to opening in the corner of Gulls Cove having plastered the windows with bright blue signage.



A grocery store is rumored to be coming to the empty retail space in the base of Liberty Towers. The long vacant retail space is too small for a mega grocery like Whole Foods, but Paulus Hook is desperately in need of a local grocery store. Grocery stores often pay lower rates than other retail stores, but they are often seen as an amenity by potential residents, increasing rents and property values.

Liberty Harbor Retail Unwrapped

The tarp has been removed from the first of the Grand Street retail spaces in Liberty Harbor North. Edible Arrangements seems to be looking to be the first store to open in the complex. The retail spaces in the "brownstone" style buildings are set slightly below street level.

U-Haul Takes Out Traffic Signal

A U-Haul truck with an attached trailer struck a traffic signal on the corner of Marin Blvd and Grand Streets on Saturday night. The U-Haul continued on without stopping.

Groove at Grove: 1 & 9's

Wednesday's Groove on Grove, the concert series held outside the Grove Street PATH station featured Well Baby and the 1 & 9's. Above, the 1&9s play a set.

The 1&9's MySpace page

Pier Park Reopens Today

Owen Grundy Park reopens today after almost two years of renovations. The park overlooks the Manhattan skyline, jutting out into the Hudson River. Parts of the pier were rebuilt, new benches and lighting were installed, and a performance stage was added.

Still present in the park are the odd awning things:




The renovation was funded with state Green Acres grants and money provided by the City of Jersey City.

Westin Hotel Victim of Arson

A fire was set in the tenth floor of the Westin Hotel yesterday. The Westin, originally scheduled to open early this fall, is a 22 story tower on Washington Blvd and Sixth Street. Based on evidence at the scene, arson was immediately suspected in the two alarm fire.

The 429 room hotel is near completion; a South City Steak, a steakhouse restaurant from the owners of South City Grill in Newport, will occupy retail space in the hotel.

Fireworks Start at 9:15

Tonight's fireworks display in Liberty State Park kicks off at approximately 9:15. The best viewing is from in the Park, but downtown locations along the Morris Canal will likely see most of the action, though will not see any ground displays. The Hudson-Bergen Light Rail provides access to Liberty State Park at the Liberty State Park Station.

Downtown traffic usually gets crowded starting around 8pm, with all vehicles headed east for the fireworks display and local streets in Paulus Hook, south of Grand Street, are closed to traffic. Local Paulus Hook traffic may not be allowed to pass through the barriers either, though in some cases residents can convince officers to let them in.

77 Hudson Street

77 Hudson Street and 70 Greene Street, continue to rise in downtown Paulus Hook. The 500 foot residential towers, while sharing a parking deck, are actually being built by two different developers. The eastern tower on Hudson Street is a condominium tower being built by K. Hovnanian homes, a developer better known for McMansions than high rise apartments. 70 Greene Street, the western tower, will house rental apartments, and is being built by Equity Residential.

The 1.3 million square foot development was originally going to be a pair of office towers built by Hartz Mountain. But a slump commercial rents and rising residential real estate prices at the turn of the millennium lead to the change in plans.

The construction of the towers has not been without incident. A worker fell to his death a few months back landing on the top of the parking deck. Before that, a fire in the rental tower slowed construction, consuming two floors and damaging several others. Most recently, OSHA recommended an $877,000 fine for unsafe conditions at the site.



The rental tower from Paulus Hook Park at Washington and Grand Streets.


The Hudson Street retail with the parking garage behind.


The exterior cladding on the north side of the parking garage still needs to be installed.


A wider angle of the north side of the parking garage.


The eastern facade of the condominium tower.


The south side of the tower; the parking garage's exterior panels are mostly installed.


Along Greene Street, the facade of the rental portion of the tower is mostly brick rather than aqua-marine blue glass. A scaffold has been installed across the street to protect pedestrians from falling debris.


Looking up at the rental tower on Greene Street.


The tower on the left is the condominium tower.


The south side of the Parking Garage