the feel good story of the year

Our little city council / not-so-open government snafu has made it into the New York Times today!

a gift from the construction fairy

Before I went to sleep last night I put under my pillow, a brick stolen from 800 Madison - the latest Upper Grand development, some concrete shavings from Metrostop, a dash of rain water from our last flooding debacle (chased with whiskey, of course), lit a yartzeit candle purchased from Shoprite, and prayed hard for a bountiful gift from the ether. When I awoke this morning, alas! my! prayers! were! answered!! The almighty construction fairy came to visit us last night and pounded into the ground a giant 20 foot sign announcing the pending arrival of some brand spanking new luxury residences. Ladies and gentleman, I give to you Upper Grand's latest arrival, coming soon to the corner of 9th and Monroe Streets:


The west facing facade (the rendering on the right) is mostly townhouses with the large 13 story tower on the right. The left hand rendering is of the south facade, which will be a full 13 story tower along the entire block of 9th Street between Jackson and Monroe Streets. The low level townhouses styles portions will run along Monroe Street, just behind Shoprite, and along the back portion next to the light rail tracks, which will become part of the new Western Edge Greenway.

The height of the tower is two floors higher than what currently stands at Metrostop. While some might frown at the height of this new project (especially those above the heights whose views of Manhattan will be blocked), HH welcomes the new development. Yet another project breathing new life into Northwestern Hoboken! And more people means greater chance of meaningful new retail for our neighborhood.

Not sure if this is going to be rental or condo (plans may be up in the air considering the state of the market), but from what I wrote about last April it is all but confirmed there will be nearly 8000 square feet of new retail space, as well as new cafe! BOW TO OUR GLORIOUS HIGH AND MIGHTY DEVELOPER OVERLORDS! They are bestowing upon us a gift from the heavens.


* I guess my original wish for a giant chocolate roller coaster and/or new parkland isn't really coming to fruition, but I'm still not giving up hope...

snow day for the doozers?

Here's one more shot of 800 Madison. Notice the new brick work in various colors, and of course the dusting of snow. Pic doesn't do it justice, but it's very charming in person.

6 to 10 = party 24 / 7

Just heard they upped the forecast - 6 to 10 inches today! Enjoy...

absolute power corrupts absolutely

Once again there's some shady business going on in Hoboken. And when local officials are hesitant in being honest, it usually means they are hiding something.

Click the link below to read an article in today's Star Ledger outlining the current battle between Hoboken Councilwoman Beth Mason, and our City Counsel, over full access and disclosure of public documentation that our local government is apparently refusing to hand over, even though they are required to do so. These documents have to do with developer agreements, conditions, and promises, tied to tax abatements and other redevelopment activities. Additional paperwork on our police department and other financial documents were requested. These records, and the overall argument at hand, affects every single person living in our neighborhood, and the future of northwestern redevelopment.

Case in point: Tarragon recently disclosing they were never obligated to build a community center and town pool, even though they had a sweetheart construction deal with the city to redevelop large swathes of the northwest portion of our neighborhood, a job that was tied to the center / pool / obligation. These were two items, along with our movie theater, that were highly publicized deals by both the developer, and our photo-op-loving Mayor David Roberts.

The only way to change the sad state of affairs of our local government is for us, the ordinary citizens, to get involved. Talk, email, write, and be vocal with those that make the decisions. This town is full of people who love to share their opinions on just about anything, but unless your words turn into action, nothing gets improved. HH may not agree with everything Beth Mason does, but we sure stand behind her fight for full disclosure, and for making sure our government works FOR US, not behind our back while simultaneously sucking our wallets dry.

The Star Ledger: Jersey court to decide how open public records are

See also:

Hoboken Now: Beth Mason's Fight for Transparency at City Hall


Hoboken 411: Mason on Public Records in Hoboken

northwest hoboken in the news!

I guess my prayers are beginning to be answered? Our little neck of the woods got some much needed attention last week in The New York Daily News. The article pretty much sums up why us pioneers are so lucky to be moving into Northwest Hoboken. The neighborhood offers value, convenience, diversity, space and Chung Park's famous cheese store. Not to mention one of the cities premiere new condo buildings, Metrostop. Enjoy the glow by clicking below:

Hoboken is Under Construction

spaceship madison blasts off

800 Madison is moving so fast that sometimes I think there might just be thousands of Fraggle Rock doozers working secretly at night to put up this new rental building, and when I wake up each morning to survey the progress, I just can't believe how quickly things are coming together. Believe it or not, the brick work has already begun! Using mid - range shades of light browns, the tones are similar to Metrostop, but with more texture. Images below:



Stacks of concrete litter the adjacent property, which is being used for storage and parking during construction. Eventually, this lot will be built as well, into 900 Monroe, a 13 story mixed used building...


And if that wasn't considered jumping the gun, windows are also being installed at a fast clip. Large window openings will provide plenty of natural light, and the angled bay windows will let you enjoy long distance street views:



Stone and brick work along the garage floor:




800 Madison is so huge, it takes up the entire block. From certain angles it gives off an 'eastern bock' kind of vibe, which is not necessarily a good thing. Hopefully with the added textures of brick, stone, and stucko, it will break up the long lines and soften this beast a little...

follow the yellow brick road

If you live in the 3rd ward like HH - your voting place is inside Columbus Gardens. It's absurdly hard to find - so just in case you need a little help today, I've posted some visual aids. Below, the view of Columbus Gardens from Jefferson Street between 8th and 9th Streets:


Just walk up the path, then hang a left, then it's down through a basement entrance past the American flag, through a corridor and into a little room with tons of water pipes running along the ceiling and bad lighting. There are a bunch of pleasant women helping voters sign in and cast their ballot. My favorite was the one pushing everyones tickets through a pinhead, and onto a piece of string tied to the voting booth. Low tech, of course, but gets the job done when you need a place to keep everyones receipt.

If you still need clarification - the voting location entrance is directly across the street from The Nail Bar Salon:


I'm sure if our voting place offered a 10% discount for mani/pedi's at The Nail Bar, there would be an instant stampede to cast votes this afternoon. Ahhhh the democratic process!

register to vote, yo

If you are planning on voting in the upcoming primary elections on Feb 5th - you must be a registered voter! The deadline to register is tomorrow. It's easy, just click here and scroll down to download the form - then mail it in! Simple as pie.

coming soon: the strip mall of our dreams?

No, the above pic is not the result of deforestation in the Amazon. Nor is it a used Christmas tree farm. All good guesses, but no.

This is the lot across the street (directly west) from our new Clearview Cinemas, currently slated to be built on 14th Street between Adams and Grand Streets. A year ago there had been a sign up on the chain link fence that said "Coming Soon: Retail and Parking". The land sat dorment forever, and now all of a sudden it's half covered in wood pilings! I wonder what's really going up here? Anyone have any further info? Time will tell!

Some worker bees are on site:


One seems a little deflated from the tepid real estate market as of late:


Here's the current state of our glorious Clearview Cinemas, below. This past summer it was announced that Tarragon/URSA, the Upper Grand developer who owns most of the land in the northwest redevelopment zone, was leasing this land to Clearview, which would in turn build their own 5 screen movie theater. It was slated to open Summer 2008. Something tells me this project is not on schedule. Just a hunch...

monroe center for the arts: open studio day today!

The Monroe center is flinging open it's doors today for a free day of snooping. Want to check out some Sunday creativity? Walk on over and do a little exploring. Plus, it's free. Plus - The Cheese Store is now open on Sundays - (rejoice!) so you MUST stop in and hang out with Chung for a while - he sells the finest cheeses known to humankind, and also sandwiches and other yummy things.

Click here for more info.

P.S. The rendering above is what the owners of Monroe Center plan on turning Monroe Center into - a giant mixed use property with 30 retail shops, luxury condos, parking, studio space, etc...

ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Interested in ditching work early this afternoon to enjoy happy hour with Barack Obama in Jersey City? Click here to learn more!

you live next to whaaaaa??!

HH hears a lot of talk around Hoboken about the far west side of town about how people can live so close to public housing, or on top of trains, etc. and be ok with it. On many web-sites including my own, reader comments have been quite negative about this aspect of city living (check out some comments from my Velocity Hoboken posts). I myself don't agree with such close-minded people. As I said from the beginning of our move, it's common place in Manhattan to have multi-million dollar condos right next to things like public housing, and most New Yorker's don't think twice about it. Because in reality it is no big deal. I think there's more of a stigma to this in Hoboken because many new residents of our square mile aren't coming from across the river. They're coming from suburbs farther away and are not used to this aspect of city life.

To further enhance my little Monday evening topic, please click below to read a New York Post article about recent new buildings going up smack dab next to what many people would think of as horrifying neighbors, such as prisons, garbage dumps, and porno shops. Yet there they are, selling at $2000 a square foot to live on top of the BQE, and it's no big deal:

The New York Post - Views You Could Lose

northwest hoboken redevelopment all but ignored by our local media

Our most recent local paper has just debuted their 2007 year in review, out today, and has a section devoted to the continued redevelopment of our famous gold coast. The story, written by Michael D. Mullins, quickly points out that major projects continue to move ahead in our area despite the national real estate downturn. This is because of our proximity to Manhattan, which insulates us to a very large degree from the larger ups and downs of the market.

HH is very disappointed, however, with Mr. Mullins' coverage of the 'action' in Hoboken. Most of his story centers around Toll Brother's waterfront projects and the new W Hotel that is being built. While those are obviously important projects in our square mile, he only mentions two very small projects in the northwest area of Hoboken: the Emsee, which he unfortunately misspells and Ariel Square, both of which are very small scale developments when compared to other projects in our area. He also writes about Velocity, and how it has gone rental after failing to sell out after a disastrous 2 year construction delay which crippled the original projects momentum. I ask Mr. Mullins - these are the highlights you choose to mention?!

For some odd reason he completely ignores such major projects as Metrostop (the first ever 10 story luxury residential building in our neighborhood) and the most recent Upper Grand buildings (1000 Jefferson and 800 Madison) both of which will have added more than 400 rental units to our burgeoning neighborhood. Not to mention the Monroe Center and their plans for 5 new mixed use buildings, including a parking garage and spaces for 30 retail locations, and a 13 story mixed use building that is about to break ground at 900 Monroe. Why would he choose to ignore such major residential progress in a former industrial area that is arguably the largest residential evolution Hoboken has ever gone through, behind the waterfront transformation? We are completely shocked by his lack of coverage of our neighborhood.

There are not many opportunities to get noticed in the world of real estate, and we all know that media exposure is a crucial stepping stone in the sometimes difficult launch and slow pace of redevelopment. It's a shame we do not receive the exposure we deserve. There are many many people putting lots of time, effort, and money into making our neighborhood a viable place to live. It's a shame that a real estate reporter like Mr. Mullins, who enjoys a very large readership and who is very influential, failed to accurately report the progress of our great neighborhood.

HH can only hope that he his saving his secrets for a much larger story devoted solely to northwest Hoboken, come spring time. Here's to hopin':

Below is the excerpt on Hoboken. To read the entire piece, please click here.


**************************************

Redevelopment was the word in '07
By Michael D. Mullins

Along Hoboken's northern waterfront, Toll Brothers continues to dominate the area near the city's border with Weehawken.

At the town's formerly industrial northern end, a slew of large, boxy factories are slowly being converted to condominiums. They will soon join the already converted 525-unit "Tea Building" at 1500 Washington St., a former Lipton Tea factory. That waterfront property was converted approximately five years ago, and now is home to notables including Gov. Jon Corzine and Giants quarterback Eli Manning.

Just west of the "Tea Building," the neighboring buildings are still being developed. Toll Brothers completed the first phase of its 10-story Harborside Lofts building at 1500 Garden St. this past November, with move-ins beginning this month. Of the 116 units completed to date, over 80 percent are already sold, according to Axiom Communications representative Jillian Marano.

Once complete, the condo complex will consist of 748 residential units as well as a 1,250-car garage.

Further down the waterfront, Toll Brothers' third major development is an upscale complex in place of the sprawling former Maxwell House coffee factory. Located in the area of 11th and Sinatra Drive, the first of "Maxwell Place's" four separate buildings was completed this past September, yielding 169 condos of which 97 percent are sold.

By 2010, all four Maxwell Place buildings are expected to be completed, adding a total of 832 units to Hoboken waterfront.

On the southern waterfront, the city's three-block South Waterfront Project has already replaced a former port area. The two piers are being used for park space, and the Applied Development Company is continuing construction on the much-anticipated W Hotel, to add to their already built condo complex and office building nearby.

The 25-story W Hotel will contain 225 rooms once complete, as well as an 11,000-square-foot ballroom. The hotel is expected to open in late 2008 and will be operated by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide.

There are also many developments inland and far west, even near the public housing projects.

A four-story, 21-unit condominium known as Ariel Square was completed this month at the corner of Fifth and Jackson streets. Only a few hundred feet away is a four and five story condominium known as the Emcee, which consists of 12 units and will be completed in March of 2008.

Both buildings were constructed by the New York City-based TreeTop Development. Adam Mermelstein, a principal of TreeTop, said in a press release that nearly 50 percent of the combined 33 units between both residencies had been sold as of this past week.

One block away on a much larger scale, locally-based Remi Companies has transformed what once was the city's towing yard into a 128-unit condominium called the Velocity. Located at Sixth and Jackson, the four-story residential complex was completed last June.

Remi CEO Eric A. Kaiser said the development initially began as condominiums, but since August of this year, it changed into a rental facility after observing that "sales were sliding." Most of the units rent for between $2,800 and $3,100.

The city also saw residents and politicians arguing over proposed parameters for several redevelopment zones in formerly industrial areas. After months of debating plans for the city's southernmost border, the City Council asked the Planning Board to incorporate new features of a revised "Southwest Redevelopment Plan." The City Council has not formerly adopted the new plan. After it does, the next step is to seek out developers who will conform to the guidelines.

The city also has other redevelopment regions in the works.

With development occurring in every corner, park activists made sure that the remaining undeveloped land should stay that way.

The Maxwell Place Waterfront Park, a 5-acre community amenity from Toll Brothers, opened this past November.

The city expects two other parks to be completed by the late spring of 2008, which are 1600 Park and 1500 Park, located near the Hoboken-Weehawken border and totaling an additional 4 acres of space.

800 madison is coming together

Here are a few shots of 800 Madison, the very large rental building being build on the entire block of land between Madison and Monroe, and 8th and 9th Streets. Sections are being delivered and installed on site - and work is moving very fast.

Compared to other URSA / Tarragon projects, which are all part of the 'Upper Grand' redevelopment project, this one seems to be a bit more modern and comtemporary. one major similarity, and a signature that is being carried over, is the townhouse style entrances on Madison and Monroe. The building is set very far back from the street, to allow for staircases. Everyone's favorite!

Has anyone heard of a completion date?