looking down upon metrostop, from the heavens

Snapped some somewhat distant pics of the Metrostop construction, for all of you who have bought into the new luxury "green" condo, and are eagerly anticipating its completion. Honestly, between you and me, it feels as though progress is happening at a snails pace. In New York this building would have been designed/ approved/ financed/ built/ spit-shined/ bought and sold/ moved in/ moved out/ subleased/ burned down/ built again/ all short of rolling down Broadway on a glittering float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, in a span of about 2 hours, no less.

The series of pics below is a scan from left to right (basically north to south) showing what's been accomplished thus far. The concrete filling of floor two is about to be poured. Also the big tower you see in most of the pictures is the 9th Street light rail elevator, which I took up to be able to take these pics. Enjoy:







The view from Jackson Street, looking north:

fields crossing workin' the corner

The biggest open house sign I've ever seen was unveiled today outside of Fields Crossing on the corner of 9th and Monroe. Spoke with the sales agent- there's an open house today for twelve condos left in the building, some of which are on the top floor with Manhattan skyline views.


Come on by if you'd like to check out some primo real estate offerings. Here's a link the the Fields Crossing website. It has some nifty floorplan action and decent pictures of a model apartment. Huge windows:

www.fieldscrossing.com

saturday morning carnage!!!

The crew started early this morning on 900 Monroe (the great takedown), hosing down the building, and keeping control of the dust and debris. Onlookers stopped and watched in fascination, as little by little the bricks and steel came tumbling down.




In these shots below, the big beast is tearing away at a horizontal steel beam. It took a long time to rip it out, and the noises it made were like nothing I've ever heard. And the vibrations, you could feel them under your feet:





Today's cast of characters included Mr. Spray and Wash:


Mr. Shovel Nothing:


Mr. Imaginary Dust Sweeper:


and Mr. Expert Arm Folder:


Here's Expert Arm Folder's alter ego, Mr. Wide Stance Surveyor. He looks powerful, doesn't he? All superheroes in their own right.



At times the bricks were precariously falling into the street, pretty close to some nearby parked cars, but all accidents were averted at every turn, as Shovel Nothing and Imaginary Dust Sweeper kept things under control. Large piles of concrete, steel and brick collected in ever expanding piles on the ground...





New chainlink fence was rolled out along 9th Street:


Everyone's favorite, Charlie Small Chompers spent time neatly organizing the different piles of rubble. Cute, huh?


And lastly, here's the view of today's events from the pedestrian walkway atop the cliffs, from the elevator entrance that takes you up to Jersey City Heights:


Now that they're picking up speed, it should be no time before it's all cleared away, and ready for Northwest Hoboken's first ever 12 story luxury condo building. The anticipation is palpable. Stay tuned...

sun shining down on columbus park

Everyone knows Hoboken is lacking in the parks department. But us northwestern Hoboken residents are very lucky to have Columbus Park just a short distance away. Here's a map of where it is:


There are so many cool things to do in Columbus park- plenty of space to play catch, run around with your dogs, or play with the little ones on the awesome swing sets they have. There are also two public tennis courts attached. I have no idea where my tennis racket is at this point, having moved around so much, but it'd be fun to do a little back hand soon. Maybe it's in my parents' garage?

Also pictured in the far distance is the stil being built 1000 Jefferson. What an amazing location to live if you have kids and/or pets.

If you have a minute you should definitely check out these 360 degree pictures of most of our Hoboken parks. It's a quicktime .mov file put together by Joseph A. Corrado:

3D Hoboken Park Images

If you are having trouble, you can click here which will take you to the hobokennj.org website for more information.

dog friendly tree

I was walking past our local JFK Stadium, which is very cool and retro, by the way, and spotted this massively old tree (pictured above) parked out front. What a beauty. Looks like it's lost a few fights with the local power lines over the years. Such bullies!

On closer inspection, it seems Mr. Tree is also a big fan of man's best friend. Either that, or he has an iron deficiency:



Here's a few pics of the outside of the stadium, thrown in for good measure. I'll make sure to get in there and take some good pics for you on one Saturday this spring.

i'm such a softee

Since moving to Hoboken, NJ a month or so ago, I've been hearing something at random that instantly brings me back to my youth. I haven't seen or heard that familiar jingle in so many years, and to my pleasant surprise, here he is again, popping up in the new hood every few days to bring treats to the masses. Behold, the return of Mr. Softee.








Now all we need is the return of the Icee Man and the Little Penguin and we're all set for summer! They probably have fierce territorial debates on who's neighborhood is whose.

What was your favorite flavor?

the great takedown continues

The demo of 900 Monroe is going much slower than I expected. When I spoke with one of the demo guys last week, he said to me, "Yeah, she's comin' down tomarra, fa shaw."

(Translation: Yes, she's coming down tomorrow, for sure.)

But after waiting for four agonizing days, it seems she's still up. About 1/5 of the building has been torn down, which you can see from these two pics:



Here's a great shot of the back of the warehouse, taken from the 9th Street light rail platform.


And finally, from the below image, you can see the warehouse demo to the left, the 9th Street light rail entrance and platform in the middle, and Fields Crossing to the right. Also captured the tail end of the metrostop construction- to the far right.


Progress!