One Journal Square, the nearly $1 billion mixed-use development going up in Jersey City, will feature two 64-story towers.
The third tower of Journal Squared, a nearby mixed-use development in Jersey City, will be 60 stories in height — joining the 54-story and 70-story towers that already have been completed.
Too much?
Actually, it may not be enough.
So said Jason Barr, the author of “Cities in the Sky: The Quest to Build the World’s Tallest Skyscrapers” and a professor at Rutgers University – Newark.
Barr, an economist by training, said the number of super-tall buildings a region has is a telling indicator of its economic status — and its economic prospects for the future.
“People want to live in city centers,” he said. “They may not want to work there as much, but they definitely want to live there. In densely populated areas, building super-tall buildings — essentially creating vertical land — is the best way to meet our housing needs. It’s necessary for cities to grow and prosper.”
Other countries, particularly in Asia, have discovered this, Barr said. It’s the reason why the iconic Empire State Building — the tallest building in the world from the time it was built in 1931 until 1971 — no longer is among even the 50 tallest today.
That’s not good, Barr said.
“New York City used its skyscrapers to help it become the most important city in the world,” he said. “I don’t think people realize how much the rest of the world learned the lessons of cities like New York and Chicago. They’re embracing tall buildings — basically doing what New York did in the early part of the 20th century — to grow their economies.
“Now, tall buildings are very controversial here.”
Not everyone is backing away from building. Certainly not on the Gold Coast.
LeFrak, the developer of the famed Newport section of Jersey City, will break ground later this year or early 2025 on a 47-story, 529-unit multifamily project tentatively known as 20 Long Slip. It will be the tallest building in the Newport neighborhood.
Charles Burton, the head of government and community relations for LeFrak, said the only reason the building won’t be taller is because it’s not allowed to be — its height is limited by FAA regulations due to its proximity to Newark Liberty International Airport.
Burton is confident there will be demand.
“Everyone’s been waiting for the multifamily boom to slow down, but it just never does,” he said. “And a big reason the demand is still high here because there’s so little that’s being built across the river.”
That speaks to Barr’s analysis: People want to live near city centers. He quotes what he likes to call his favorite fact: In 1960, there were 3 billion people on the planet and one out of three lived in cities, he said. Today, he said, there are nearly 8 billion people in the world and close to 5 billion live in cities.
“The number of people living in cities has just increased dramatically,” he said. “It’s our present and future. We need more tall buildings to handle this demand.”
Barr is realistic about future growth — especially in suburban New Jersey. He’s not calling for 50-story buildings in Red Bank.
But, he does encourage more buildings on train lines near train stations. He said they have to be done appropriately, perhaps five stories high in the distant suburbs, but 10, 15 or 20 as you get closer to Newark and Jersey City.
And, while Barr said people have a right to be concerned about aesthetics, he feels they should not be as concerned about safety.
Wind — the biggest issue facing tall buildings — has essentially been neutralized, he said.
“Years ago, you would start to feel the wind at 15 or 20 stories — and really feel the wind at 40 or 50,” he said. “Today, there’s a whole suite of, like, wind engineering solutions that allow people to be in super-tall buildings, and not feel the building sway.”
As for terrorism, Barr certainly is respectful of the fear, but said it may not be statistically accurate.
“The truth is, 9/11 was more or less a one-off event,” he said. “In addition, buildings are safer now and less susceptible to these kinds of horrible incidents.”
It’s not an issue in other countries, Barr said — quoting another stat: The number of buildings built so far in the 21st century that are higher than 150 meters (approximately 50 stories) is seven times greater than the number of buildings of that height in the entire 20th century.
“The rest of the world is not afraid of heights,” he said.
If nothing else, Barr said the economic benefits of the communities in which tall cities are located are well established.
“People think these super-tall buildings are boondoggles and they don’t make money,” he said. “The reality is, in the neighborhoods where these super-tall buildings go up, the surrounding properties get a lot of boost in value.
“If you’d have a property that has a view of an iconic tower, people are going to pay a premium, to live there and other businesses are going to cluster around the iconic tower.”
