Richard Murphy walked through the old Butler Warehouse on Warren Street as if he intended to move there when it was complete, or like a proud father showing off his first-born child.
The Butler Warehouse, now the Modera Lofts, isn’t the first residential development he’s been involved in over his 25 years in the industry. But it is the first rehab of a historic building, a venture even new to Mill Creek Residential, perhaps the largest developer of residential housing on the East Coast. Prior to serving as managing director of Mill Creek, Murphy served as managing director for Trammel Crow.
The 110-year-old warehouse had a few surprises for even a man as experienced as Murphy. During a tour nearly half way through the redevelopment, he gave glimpses of the unique problems faced and overcome in providing what will be a very individual residential community in the heart of the Powerhouse Arts District.
“This is a place for people who want to live in something other than the high rises,” he said as he crossed the street. He walked from the construction trailer to the large red brick building that once served as a distribution center similar to Sears and Roebuck for a good portion of the 20th Century. “People who move in here will be living in a very unique space.”
Challenges met and overcome
The Modera Lofts, an eight-story brick building, will include more than 350 apartment units when it opens this fall.
Abandoned for several decades, the building was in pretty good shape when the Dallas-based Mill Creek Residential Trust purchased it last year, and began to convert it into a residential space.
There were a number of surprises, Murphy said, such as the number things that had been stored in the building and never recovered, like the cheesy artificial Christmas trees popular in the 1970s and several generations of political posters. Once work started to clear the exterior of the building, the color turned out to be several shades lighter than it first appeared.
But the interior was full of interesting secrets. There were two sets of elevators that went from the ground floor to the top floor. But in one area, the redevelopers found an elevator shaft that went only between two floors.
“People will want to come here because this place is different from any other place on the Gold Coast.” – Richard Murphy
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“I am so thankful we were able to landmark and preserve the Butler Brothers Building,” Osborne said. ”It is a shining example of how preservation can work in America’s historic cities. It really is the most special development I’ve seen since joining the City Council.”
A historic place
Constructed as a furniture warehouse for Chicago-based retailing and wholesaling company The Butler Brothers in 1900, the building took up almost an entire city block, and was seen by some history preservationists as an example of construction from the age of Jersey City’s industrial era.
Designed by Jarvis Hunt, one of the greatest architects at the turn of the last century, it features corbelled cornices, parapets, decorative brick banding, and entirely brick bearing walls.
The Powerhouse district for decades was a downtrodden industrial area that got its name from the massive brick power station constructed in 1908 to provide electricity to the Hudson Tubes which later became the PATH trains. Located between the Holland Tunnel and Exchange Place PATH station, the buildings there are mostly factories and warehouses.
The Butler Brothers later moved into retail and established a number of major five and dime chains in small towns across the country. By the 1940s and 1950s, the Butler Brothers company was among the largest wholesale companies in the nation, and offered weekly shipments to its retailers. Unlike companies before and even later, the company maintained a vast stock of items in warehouses such as the one in Jersey City.
Windows and other matters
Murphy said several of the bigger challenges involved windows, doors, and portions of the building that were damaged by elements over the years, including a front corner that had to be rebuilt.
The windows were curious, Murphy said, because they were undersized.
“This was a warehouse and the company wanted to preserve as much floor space as possible,” Murphy said.
But to be adapted for residential use, the windows had to be expanded. A few tests showed that traditional cutting of brick and expanding just didn’t look right. So the company brought in a mason and all the 1,200 windows were done by hand. Teams of mason workers came in and removed bricks to make floor to ceiling windows. This was labor intensive, and retained the historic feel while still allowing for the necessary light.
The building’s floors were not conventional either. They sloped outward towards drainage holes along the exterior to allow water to flow out in case of heavy rain or leakage. The middle of the building’s floors were higher than the perimeter so the water would drain to the outskirts of the building. This resulted in a six or seven inch difference from the middle to the exterior.
Murphy said this posed several problems. The developer wanted to maintain the wooden ceilings that were the underside of these floors. The floors were sealed first and then concrete was poured over the wood beams to make the floors even throughout.
The eight floors are supported by heavy wooden beams – like a forest of tree trunks – that the developer wanted to keep as well. But these varied from floor to floor.
The building’s first floor will be designed to host an art gallery along with studio space, living up to its part in maintaining the artist’s district. There will be amenities for the residents on this floor, and a small area of retail, hoping to promote foot traffic and create a neighborhood.
Historic yes, but with modern amenities
Murphy said the goal is to create a community of 360 loft-style luxury apartments. The complex will include a rooftop deck, club-quality fitness studio, a club room with bar, dog washing station, bicycle storage and repair station, conference rooms, and a 24-hour concierge.
Most of the new residents fit the key demographic of 25- to-44-year-old, highly educated renters, with over 75 percent over the age of 25 having at least a college degree and over 88 percent working white collar jobs and having an average annual household income of $132,000.
Most of the units will be studio, one and two bedroom, with only five three-bedroom units, Murphy says.
While one of the elevator lobbies will provide a residential play area for kids, he says doesn’t expect the project to generate many children.
“The demographics were trying to reach are not here to raise families,” he said.
Some unusual amenities include a bicycle repair shop, a pet spa, and several office spaces for residents who are working at home.
Several spaces in the building are particularly unusual, and were preserved, such as leaving some of the industrial features in place for atmosphere.
“People will want to come here because this place is different from any other place on the Gold Coast,” Murphy said. “People who want to live in high rises will move there. But we’re confident that some people will take pride in living in luxury rentals that are not high rises and reflect the historic feel of this part of the city.”
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.