JSQ Redevelopment Plan Unveiled Today

October 15, 2008, at 11:10 pm | One comment

A rendering of the planned development of the Hotel on the Square Block in Journal Square

Today, Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy spoke at the Hudson County Community College Culinary Institute about the redevelopment plan making Journal Square a premier Shopping Center it was once.

Full article from nj.com if you read the rest…

Jersey City Mayor Unveils Journal Square Redevelopment Plan
by Russell Ben-Ali/The Star-Ledger
Wednesday October 15, 2008, 4:01 PM

New parks, pedestrian-friendly streets and thousands of new apartments would surround Journal Square if a multi-billion dollar plan unveiled today by Jersey City’s mayor is approved.

The plan suggests the creation of nine acres of park space, configured to connect with existing city parks to stretch from Journal Square to the Jersey City waterfront, making it “the longest single urban greenway in the United States,” Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy said.

The plan also calls for an extension of the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail to Journal Square and the revamping of the Journal Square Transportation Center, including the PATH station and buses that carry some 8 million passengers per year. Trolley cars would carry commuters to shops and businesses, according to the designs.

Journal Square, once a center for shopping and entertainment for Jersey City, has been on the decline for decades, noted Healy, who said he remains hopeful that the city can repeat in the square its redevelopment success on the waterfront.

The mayor acknowledged, however, that the credit crisis has slowed the building industry and said it could take as long as 15 years for the Journal Square vision to be realized.

“The issue is can it be accomplished,” Healy told local, state and regional officials this morning at the Hudson County Community College Culinary Institute. “I think it can. And if you don’t have a vision nothing can be accomplished.”

Earlier this year the city commissioned two firms, A. Nelessen Associates, Inc. and Dean Marchetto Architects, P.C. to develop a plan known as “Vision Journal Square.” The firms based their designs in part on responses to surveys taken of residential and business communities in the area.

The study cost about $400,000, with $150,000 paid through a Department of Community Affairs grant and the balance from Urban Enterprise Zone funds, officials said.

A public hearing on the plan is scheduled October 23.

News source: nj.com