The End of Victory Hall?
The 103-year-old Victory Hall building on Grand Street, a venue for arts events in Downtown Jersey City, will morph this fall into a preschool affiliated with nearby Our Lady of Czestochowa (OLC) School.
Father Tom Iwanowski, pastor of the OLC Church on Sussex Street, whose parish includes the school and Victory Hall, said the school’s preschool program, Little Harbor Academy, has seen tremendous enrollment growth in recent years, creating a demand for more space.
“There will be some sadness to see Victory Hall [will] no longer have…interesting arts and community-oriented events,” Iwanowski said, “but I think people understand that it’s not to be torn down for condos, but will be for educational purposes.”
Iwanowski said he broke the news around December to board members of Victory Hall, Inc., the nonprofit organization which oversees events in the building under a lease agreement with OLC. Board members will be allowed to use the name “Victory Hall” for any future site they move into or build.
Board member K.K. Sexton said meetings to discuss finding a new space are forthcoming.
Victory Hall’s current slate of classes and special events at the Grand Street location will last until late June. – RICARDO KAULESSAR
New Ideas for Eyesores
Jersey City is looking to solve the problem of abandoned buildings with its recent establishment of an “abandoned property list.” The list will allow the city to identify abandoned properties, then gain control of the properties for rehabilitation and reuse.
City Housing Code Enforcement Officer Ed Coleman was designated as the officer in charge of creating the list. Coleman will report directly to the director of the Department of Housing, Economic Development and Commerce (HEDC), Barbara Netchert, every six months about the status of the properties listed. Netchert in turn will report directly to Mayor Jerramiah Healy.
“This is a mechanism that cities can use to get these buildings back into contributing to their cities,” Netchert said.
Before the city can get control of an abandoned building, any holders of tax liens on the property must be given the opportunity to demonstrate that they will carry out renovations themselves.
Mayor Healy’s spokesperson, Maria Pignataro, said that “at least 140 abandoned properties” exist in Jersey City. – RICARDO KAULESSAR
Manischewitz Moves Out
When the Manischewitz factory on Bay Street did its once-a-year run of Jewish Passover matzos (an unleavened bread) late last year, it was near the end of its operations after almost 80 years at its present location.
Even though Passover is celebrated in the spring, the plant had to churn out its special matzos early. Manischewitz, the granddaddy of Jewish kosher food products since 1888, will move its operations in April to a recently renovated food plant in Newark.
The R.A.B. Group, the former owner of Manischewitz, sold the property to the development firm Toll Brothers for more than $35 million.
Toll Brothers plans to build a high-rise luxury tower on top of almost 60,000 square feet of retail and entertainment space. At least 100 jobs are expected to be lost from the Manischewitz relocation. – RICARDO KAULESSAR
School Officials Hope to Regain Control
Local school officials have their sights set on regaining control of the city’s public schools from the state, which has overseen the Jersey City school district since 1989.
Through a monitoring process known as Quality Single Accountability Continuum (QSAC), the state will investigate the school district for signs of progress in five areas: instruction and program, personnel, operations management, school governance, and fiscal management. If the QSAC officers determine that adequate progress has been made in any or all of these areas, the state could return control of those areas to local officials.
“We believe that within a year we’ll have either all local control or most local control,” said Francis X. Dooley, deputy superintendent for the city’s public schools.
Dooley said that school officials have begun preparing a self-examination to present to QSAC officers, the first step of the evaluation process. – CHRISTOPHER ZINSLI
Reservoir to be Preserved for Recreation
Years of debate over the fate of Reservoir No. 3 came to a close in February when Mayor Jerramiah Healy announced that it will be preserved for passive recreational use.
The 13.5-acre reservoir in The Heights, bordered by Summit, Central, Jefferson and Reservoir avenues, has been at the center of a long battle over whether it should be utilized for recreation or development.
The recreation plan calls for a fishing pier, a canoe dock and an elevated jogging path on top of the wall that spans the perimeter of the reservoir.
“We believe it is in the best interest of the city of Jersey City and our 240,000-plus residents to keep this reservoir as passive open space,” Healy said, in announcing the plans.
Joining Healy for the announcement was New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Lisa Jackson; Steve Latham, the president of the Jersey City Reservoir Preservation Alliance, who fought for years to preserve the Reservoir; and several dozen local residents and city officials.
Healy said that construction work to prepare the reservoir for public use will begin shortly, and that parts of the reservoir will be open to the public starting this summer. – RICARDO KAULESSAR & CHRISTOPHER ZINSLI