In what officials hope will be the first step in the spread of new development beyond the waterfront and Journal Square, community and government leaders gathered for the groundbreaking on April 7 of The Baker Building on Suydam Avenue. About three blocks from the Hudson Bergen Light Rail station at Liberty State Park, the new development replaces a vacant factory.
“The name comes from a business that operated on the site for about a century,” said John Fiorito, the developer.
This is one of the first new developments beyond the waterfront, and it is part of a Morris Canal redevelopment plan. Community activist June Jones said she and others had pushed for this project.
The building, which will receive a tax abatement, will offer one, two, and three bedroom apartments and will likely be the first of two projects proposed for that street. Mayor Steven Fulop said Fiorito hopes to develop the project directly across the street as well.
The street, at the foot of Communipaw Avenue near Liberty State Park, is a mixture of residential and industrial. Along with a factory across the street, a towing firm is also in the area.
Fulop said the site would take advantage of its location to the light rail, and a proposed footbridge across the Morris Canal would tie this neighborhood in with the downtown district.
“This is the largest project we have seen in Ward F in many years,” Fulop said, “and it demonstrates what we are trying to achieve. We want to encourage development away from the waterfront, so we are very proud to have the partners that we do, and we want to make sure this is a great place to live, to work, and to raise a family.”
The complex will be named after the 100-year-old Baker Coating Factory that had previously operated on the site. “We want to remember the past as we grow into the future,” said Fiorito.
Rents will range from $1,500 to $2,300 per month. “Whatever you would expect to have in a full amenity building Downtown you will have here,” said Fiorito.
Familiar to Jersey City
Point Capital Development, Fiorito’s company, has constructed 17 buildings in Jersey City over the last decade.
The light rail, Fiorito said, will allow more convenient access to downtown and Manhattan than other developments proposed for Western edge of Hudson County in places like Harrison.
Fulop said the project would be going vertical within the next few months in a neighborhood in need of rehabilitation. He said it has taken about two years to get to this point.
“This is very exciting for me,” said Councilwoman Diane Coleman. She said she had ridden in the earth moving equipment at the site.
“I’m looking at the other one that is rocking back and forth and I’m going to get on that one, too, because I feel like this is my project,” she said. “With the help of the mayor and the City Council, we have brought this from a drawing that was brought into our office to a project that in the next couple of weeks will be going vertical. This is a beauty project in an area that desperately needs it. What’s most exciting is that this developer has so much energy he’s looking to bring the same kind of project to the other side of the street. That’s what I call developing a community. That’s developing a neighborhood.”
She said the city is trying to bring development where it is needed and this is an area that definitely needs it.
Jones, who Fulop said was an early advocate for the improvement of the neighborhood, said she and others had founded the Morris Canal redevelopment in 1999 with a vision of growth.
She said she sees this project as an investment in the neighborhood, and hopes to see the second project coming soon, a $20 million project that will construct 83 units.
He said this is part of Fulop’s vision to have development beyond the water front.
“This is class A housing that will replace a vacant, blighted factory,” he said. “But these are going to be one-, two- and three-bedroom units. We’re not just building 500-square foot studios.”
He said the building will have all the amenities that are expected in this kind of project, including an onsite super, parking a dog run, laundry, and 10,000 square feet of green space.
“This will be at a lower cost that downtown and more convenient by light rail than those buildings built in places like Harrison.”
“This a top tier design,” Fulop said. “And when you return to this neighborhood in two or ten years, you will be the change.”
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.