Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop was joined by the city council, local dignitaries and community members Monday to cut the ribbon on the newly revitalized Bergen Square, one of the oldest established town squares in America, dating back to 1660.
After years of working closely with Jersey City residents and neighborhood organizations, the city’s Department of Infrastructure led the community-driven project, highlighting the area’s rich history while transforming surface parking lots into 5,400 square feet of pedestrian plaza and park space with carefully designed aesthetics. The result is a vibrant and inviting urban area for residents, visitors and patrons of the nearby small businesses.
“Our vision for Bergen Square is to build a usable outdoor public space in the heart of Journal Square for everyone to enjoy, with an important emphasis on the valuable role this area and Jersey City has played in our nation’s history, going back hundreds of years,” Fulop said.
By relocating public parking, the city not only is increasing the number of available parking spots and raising the intersection for pedestrian safety, but is upgrading one of the busiest public bus stops in the city and creating a safer, more streamlined drop-off area for nearby pre-K through 8th-grade students attending the Martin Luther King Jr. School, P.S. 11.
Situated along Bergen Avenue between McGinley Square and Journal Square, the redesigned public space boasts an area for community events, traffic safety upgrades, a newly planted 30-foot oak tree and native greenery. Additional improvements include:
- 14 additional on-street parking spaces
- Improved traffic flow
- Public transit stops with bus shelters
- Native landscaping and green infrastructure
- Relocation of school bus drop-off for P.S. 11 to Academy Street
- Removal of surface parking lots while creating more parking opportunities
- Historic signage
In 2018, Fulop formed the Bergen Square Committee, launching an effort to strengthen the area’s historical identity and activate it as a vibrant public space. As a result, this interdisciplinary vision became a reality through collaborative action involving city staff from the Department of Infrastructure (Engineering, Traffic, Transportation, Sustainability), Division of Planning and Historic Preservation working together with the community.
The Journal Square Special Improvement District will partner with the city to clean and maintain the plaza amenities daily.
Chris Bernardo, who leads the Journal Square Special Improvement District, expressed excitement about the public investment in Bergen Square: “The city’s commitment to developing open and accessible public spaces is on full display at the renovated Bergen Square plaza. The thoughtful design and amenities will enable us to program the space with activities for customers, residents, and students.”
A half mile from Bergen Square, the Fulop administration is moving forward with plans to build a brand new 3-acre Courthouse Park, which will soon be the first large park in Journal Square. While there are no public parks currently within walking distance, a 30-foot-tall oak tree was planted in the southeast quadrant of Bergen Square to establish immediate benefits of shade and greening the space, as the primary goal of the project is to bring a welcoming, green space in the heart of the bustling urban center.
