Construction on the tallest planned building at Kushner Real Estate Group’s Journal Squared project in Jersey City has begun, the real estate firm announced Monday.
The largest of the three planned luxury high-rise towers will stand 71 stories and offer 704 units and 18,000 square feet of retail space, KRE Group said in a news release. The building at 615 Pavonia Ave. will encompass approximately 1 million square feet when finished, KRE Group added.
“Journal Squared helps reinvigorate this section of Jersey City,” KRE Group President Jonathan Kushner said in a prepared statement. “It stands as an immense project that will help transform the New Jersey skyline, and bring residents and retail to a completely reimagined destination.”
The first part of the project, a 53-story tower, topped off in 2015, while the third tower, to be built upon completion of the second phase, is planned for 63 stories.
Jersey City-based Dresdner Robin is providing engineering, environmental and design services on the project, as well as construction administration services and work at the Magnolia Avenue plaza and roadway, near the Journal Square Transportation Center.
“Journal Square is in the midst of a major revitalization,” Dresdner Robin’s Tim Lavin, senior project manager, said in a statement, talking about the neighborhood where the Journal Squared project is rising. “Dresdner Robin is assisting the KRE Group in manifesting its vision of transforming the transportation hub into a new destination for living, shopping and enjoying the Manhattan skyline. I believe this district is well on its way to reaching that mark.”
New York-based Hollwich Kushner is providing architectural design, while New York’s Handel Architects is the architect of record and Brielle-based Melillo + Bauer Associates is providing landscape architecture services for the ground and rooftop levels.
Journal Squared was approved by the city government in December 2012, receiving a 30-year tax abatement and $10 million in bonds. It is the first major development of its kind in decades, KRE Group said.
“There is more investment in this area of Jersey City, and we’re seeing it firsthand,” Lavin said. “Developers are now taking a serious look at this area, and moving forward with plans for development, thanks in part to this multiphase Journal Squared project.”
