Jersey City 11th best for dating
A recent national survey ranked Jersey City the 11th best city in the nation for dating.
According to Sperling’s Best Places, a survey company based in Portland, Ore., Jersey City has many of the qualities that make a city attractive to young singles.
Using factors such as percentage of singles aged 18 to 24, population density and diversity, and dating venues per capita – such as bars, health clubs and coffee shops – the survey scored 80 metropolitan areas across the country and organized them by rank.
According to the survey, Jersey City is even more attractive to singles than New York City, which came in at number 18. Austin, Tex. topped the list.
Factors such as population density and diversity and a high percentage of young, single adults – over 85 percent of 18-to-24 year-olds in Jersey City are single, according to the survey – contributed to the city’s high score. Also important was the survey’s finding that Jersey City residents spend a lot of money at social venues such as restaurants and concerts.
The Sperling’s study used statistics from the Census Bureau (population statistics and characteristics), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (frequency of sexual partners), Match.com (online daters) and input from “leading relationship experts” who weighed the categories by importance to singles. – Christopher Zinsli
LSC to relocate during expansion
Liberty Science Center will temporarily move a short distance from its current spot in Liberty State Park starting this September.
The popular educational facility, which draws hundreds of thousands of visitors to Jersey City each year, will move into the historic Central Railroad of New Jersey (CRRNJ) Terminal on the shore of the Hudson River while the center undergoes a major renovation and expansion.
The $104 million project, which is expected to be completed in 2007, will add approximately 125,000 square feet to the science center. New features will include a four-story glass atrium facing the Statue of Liberty, a Center for Science Learning and Teaching, an Early Learners exhibition space for children one-and-a-half to five years old, and an environmentally controlled area that will allow the center to display fragile historic relics.
The temporary facility, which will be known as Liberty Science Center: Riverside at the CRRNJ Terminal, will contain 4,000 square feet of exhibition space, classrooms and a small theater. – Christopher Zinsli and Ricardo Kaulessar
Developing the waterfront
Several major residential and recreational development projects are in the works on the Jersey City waterfront. One of these will be The Applied Development Company’s HarborSpire. When completed, the 55-story dual tower will be the tallest residential building in New Jersey.
With 863 units of residential space, the building will be located less than two blocks from the Exchange Place transportation hub.
HarborSpire will feature an 8,000 square foot fitness center with an indoor basketball court, a landscaped plaza, a children’s playground and a swimming pool.
Also near the waterfront, in Liberty State Park, construction has begun on Liberty National Golf Club, a 7,019-yard course being built by Applied in partnership with Massachusetts-based Willowbend Development Company.
The private course – membership fees run six figures – will feature broad views of the New York City skyline and the Statue of Liberty. Course plans call for five lakes, four streams, a waterfall, and several acres of wetlands for migratory birds and other wildlife.
The course is set to open on July 4th of 2006. – Christopher Zinsli and Ricardo Kaulessar
Library reaches registration goal
The Jersey City Free Public Library recently celebrated reaching its goal of 100,000 library card members with a special ceremony in March at the library’s Main Branch.
The campaign began in October 2002, when Library Director Priscilla Gardner learned that only 40,000 Jersey City residents had valid library cards. Gardner proposed a 14-month campaign to reach a goal of 100,000 library card registrations, representing 40 percent of the city’s population (240,055 according to the 2000 U.S. Census).
The Jersey City Free Public Library system consists of a main library, four large regional branches, and seven smaller neighborhood branches that provide access to a collection of more than 400,000 pieces of printed, audiovisual and electronic resources.
While the library card drive was taking place, the grand opening of the Glenn D. Cunningham Branch Library and Community Center took place in August 2004. It was the first new library branch in 42 years.
Also in that period, the Jersey City Free Public Library Foundation was created. The foundation, started in November 2003, is a 501©3 organization whose sole purpose is to raise money for capital improvements for most of the library buildings in the Jersey City Public Library system. – Ricardo Kaulessar
The Beacon is on the horizon
The Jersey City Planning Board approved in March a proposal to turn three buildings of the old Jersey City Medical Center into a mixed-use facility with 314 residential units and 64,821 square feet of office/retail space, as well as a parking garage with 1,049 spaces. The development will be called the “Beacon.”
Ultimately, according to the redevelopers of the site, New York City-based Metrovest Equities, the entire multi-phase project could include a $350 million renovation of the hospital buildings, including 1,200 rental and condo apartments, shops, a central courtyard, a dog run, a restaurant, a grocery store and the parking garage.
The old medical center, on Baldwin Avenue, closed on May 16 of last year after 70 years of operation. Hospital operations moved to the new building on Grand Street.
The hospital was once one of the largest buildings in the state of New Jersey and a landmark of Art Deco architecture. It was built under the direction of former Jersey City mayor Frank Hague with funding provided by then-President Franklin Roosevelt.
Construction on the project is expected to start this summer. – Ricardo Kaulessar