Lloyd Goldman of BLDG Management used to play along the Jersey City harbor side when he was a kid. “This whole area was warehouses,” he recalled during the ribbon cutting ceremony on Jersey City’s latest luxury rental building, a 36-story building at 110 First St. called “The One.”
Goldman said his family has been involved in Jersey City real estate for 60 years. He continued the family tradition when he began to work for his brother in law.
“He owned the warehouse next to our new building and several others in the area,” Goldman said.
When the land at 110 First St. became available, he pushed to buy it.
“This is exciting for me. I have been in real estate my entire life. This is truly our first big building, ground to finish,” he said. “The evolution here has been incredible. I took it on myself to acquire this property, and I’m excited to become part of an exciting residential neighborhood with high rises all around, with properties I would want to own and be a part of the community.”
“Quality of life here in Jersey City is just extraordinary.” – Lloyd Goldman
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“This building has an artistic and unique design that will both add to the city’s growing skyline and contribute to the exciting Powerhouse District,” said Mayor Steven Fulop, who joined a number of public officials and business people for the official ribbon cutting on June 25.
The new tower includes 10 affordable housing units, according to BLDG. The developer also paid over $1.1 million into the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund as part of a 14-year tax abatement deal brokered in 2012, and another $2.5 million to pay for 45 affordable units on Summit Avenue.
Although a dispute arose with the city after the developer demolished a pocket park next to the building without approval, the city said the developer has agreed to restore the park.
Fulop called the new building “a continued investment” in Jersey City.
“This means a lot to us and a lot to the residents of Jersey City,” Fulop said. “If you look around this site, you see a huge number of cranes, and construction. I couldn’t be more proud in leading the state in the number of construction starts.”
Fulop said Jersey City has also seen a drop in unemployment and overall construction job growth as well as new businesses flourishing.
Delayed by the economic downturn in 2008
Ken Browne, managing partner of Urban Development Partners, said the project started 10 years ago when the original development team began working what eventually evolved into this project.
“Back then, with numerous redesigns and changes to every aspect of the building, we thought we were finally ready to build our project,” he said. “Of course, in 2008, the world had different plans and we came into what is called ‘the great recession’ that put our project along with many others on hold. I’m sure a lot of people can remember that on this site – the lot formerly known as 111 First St. – we had a large collection of steel piles that we stored here until the project started. It wasn’t until 2012 with the improving economy that we were prepared to restart the project. The continued growth of Jersey City as a vibrant community, we knew we had to create a first class luxury building. That led to more changes, not just changes to the plan, but also changes to the partnership. The end result, in an addition to the Jersey City skyline, The One is a great place to live in on the Jersey City waterfront.”
More than just another luxury development
Goldman called Jersey City a special place. “It is not a bedroom community. It’s a vibrant community with great access to other places,” he said.
But the project, he said, caused his family a number of sleepless nights. He said he and his family had to live with the fear of investing the amount of funds needed for a project like this.
“At family events there are storms that occur, and things that occur that you plan for and hope never occur, but always throw a monkey wrench because they never happen at a good time,” he said. “Many building owners refer to amenities as granite counters and hardwood floors; those are given. Of course, you have floors and counter tops with high quality material, but quality of life here in Jersey City is just extraordinary. It is better quality of life for the residents than any other place in the region. The swimming pools, the hot tubs, fire pits, the gold simulator, the pool table, and on and on. The decks have incredible views.”
Some of the other amenities include a fitness center with its own yoga studio, media theater room, children’s playroom, gaming roof, residents’ lounge with catering kitchen and billiards, and additional storage space
The pool area has private cabanas and a large sun deck, picnic and lawn area, barbecues and a fire pit.
The sky lounge has a kitchen with an adjacent roof deck that allows residents to entertain guests.
Goldman said there is a strong demand for high end amenities and common space.
Art component was required
Gino Polizzotto of Ares management said Jersey City required a public art component as part of the project approval.
“We gladly incorporated that into the project design,” Polizzotto said. “We took this challenge as a real opportunity to design a unique piece of public art into the community to enjoy.”
Mounted on the east side of the building is a 4,500 square foot piece of art, he said.
“To ensure a fair process was carried out in selecting the work, we conducted a competition to discover an artist that could work in such large scale, as we have here,” he said. “Combined with our team, we worked with representatives from Mayor Fulop’s office and the Jersey City Department of Cultural Affairs.”
The team got a list of 38 local artists in New Jersey and New York and issued an invitation to them with a broad vision and a theme that could be colorful, graphic, abstract or naturalistic, but must be related specifically to the project site.
Twelve artists submitted concepts from which the team chose Jeff Quinn, who created the work combining a hand-painted technique with scanned materials. The mural depicts a mix of elements including a landscape and sky inspired by the 19th century Hudson River School art movement and a depiction of the numeral “One” sitting amidst a foreground composed of photographic images of the current Jersey City skyline.
Quinn said he sought to create a work that suggests the romantic history of the area and the feel of a fine art painting.
“I want the mural to represent The One as it becomes an iconic part of the neighboring cityscape,” Quinn said in a statement. “The connection between art and architecture is frequently overlooked, thus the chance to work on this project was an amazing opportunity.”
Quinn said he believes Jersey City is poised to see a lot of new interesting art, design and architecture.
“My hope is that the mural will highlight Jersey City as a community that is open-armed to artist, designers, and creators alike,” he said.
Polizzotto said there were so many great pieces and concepts to choose from that it was difficult to choose one. In the end, the owners decided to hire three of the runner ups for commissioned pieces for the interior spaces.
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.