The Jersey City Independent "

Soon both the warehouses and the more recent residential buildings in the Powerhouse Arts District will be overshadowed, literally and figuratively, by three 30-story buildings after the city’s planning board approved a Toll Brothers’ development proposal almost four years in the making. And in a neighborhood that has been the site of dramatic change over the past thirty years, the realities of long-term best intentions and the very real need for shorter-term growth are often the distorting lenses that split the difference between unconscionable action and logical progression.

A developer’s rendering of the proposed new-look McGinley Square. The shot above is Montgomery Street looking east from Bergen Avenue; the shot below at right is a proposed pedestrian mall that would run east-west from Jordan Avenue to Tuers Avenue, in between Montgomery and Mercer Streets. Jersey City officials say they have heard residents’ concerns [...]

About a year ago, Hudson County planning officials began a study on how to best improve transportation in the area along the Jersey City/Hoboken border as both cities planned for redevelopment in the area. The study, known as the Jersey City/Hoboken Subregional Transportation Study, had the aim of improving the flow of auto traffic, both [...]

Jersey City took another step this week towards the sale of the Jersey City Police Department (JCPD) headquarters on Erie Street, approving an ordinance to adopt the 8 Erie Street Redevelopment Plan to guide the development the JCPD building and an adjacent surface parking lot.

The latest twist in the ongoing fight over the future of the 6th Street Embankment in Downtown Jersey City occurred Wednesday night, as the City Council unanimously rejected a settlement offer put forth by developer Steve Hyman, who owns the properties with his wife. “[The proposed settlement can] end the disputes and litigation that have [...]

As Jersey City tries to sell the historic JCPD headquarters on Erie Street, a neighborhood group contends the deal is being done far too hastily and in a less-than-transparent manner, an allegation the Healy administration and the agency likely to oversee the redevelopment both flatly reject. The group’s claim that the estimated sale price is “alarmingly low” also raises questions about whether the property should be designated in need of redevelopment.

TD Bank announced last week that it has given $350,000 to Jersey City nonprofit WomenRising for the group’s mixed-use project on Monticello Avenue and its job bank/clearinghouse. The donation is part of $1 million in New Jersey donations the bank is distributing through the state Department of Community Affairs’ Neighborhood Revitalization Tax Credit (NRTC) Program, [...]

UPDATE: These resolutions were introduced at Wednesday’s City Council meeting, and will be up for a public hearing and final vote at the next meeting: Tuesday, November 23. Jersey City’s City Council is set to introduce ten ordinances this week amending the city code to specifically prohibit natural gas pipelines in certain redevelopment zones. “Natural [...]

The Jersey City Housing Authority’s (JCHA) Barbara Place Terrace has won a 2010 Award of Excellence from the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials. The mixed-income development will be honored in the Project Design category at the group’s national conference next week. The project is one of 23 nationwide to receive an award this [...]

Local elected officials accept the DOT/HUD grant check on Garfield Avenue The federal Department of Transportation (DOT) today announced that two major projects in the Jersey City area will receive a total of $12,281,426 in TIGER II grant funding, as part of nearly $600 million being allocated to 75 infrastructure projects nationwide. The larger of [...]