Toll Brothers Powerhouse Arts District Plan Approved
Hudson Now is reporting that the Toll Brothers three tower plan was approved at this evenings meeting, recasting the Powerhouse Arts District as a high rise luxury community and allowing redevelopment to finally move forward. The tallest building will stand 40 stories. As a concession, Toll Brothers will build a 500 seat theater.
Labels: PAD
1 Comments:
I think this is a tragedy. I live in the PAD, and the Toll Bros plan will uproot what I considered to be one of the most beautiful, forward-thinking places to live in Jersey City. They will be destroying not only the historic Manischewitz factory which had a connection to millions of Jewish Americans, but they will also be destroying (literally, building over and erasing) a 100-year old cobblestone street...just to build another generic-looking Toll Bros behemoth like those blighting the outskirts of Hoboken. The failure of this decision by Jersey City is the fundamental failure to recognize intrinsic value -- these historic landmarks, the artistic and aesthetic contribution the PAD can, does and would make to Jersey City in a cultural sense has more intrinsic value for Jersey City than does another milquetoast highrise populated by yuppy types who can't afford Manhattan. To the impartial observer, the full weight of this bad decision will become clear once (i) the USD/EUR/GBP temporary currency imbalance inevitably corrects (this will happen in 6-12 months) causing a sudden drop-off in European demand for Manhattan real-estate as an investment vehicle (let's face it, the Europeans are mostly not planning to live there...sound at all like Miami?); (ii) the drop in foreign investment which is currently buoying Manhattan finally leads to a softening of the Manhattan market; (iii) the perceived correction in the Manhattan market shifts interest away from a significant fraction of folks who are currently flooding into JC for affordability reasons vis-a-vis Manhattan; (iv) JC sells itself short of it's intrinsic and cultural assets, thereby further devaluing it vs NYC, and a price correction vs NYC causes the recent flood of new residents into JC (1-2 yr lease?) to flood back across the Hudson. When this happens, given the huge and growing inventory in JC, it will lead to further downward price competition in the JC market which could cause the hive of highrises to turn into something reminiscent of urban decay (which is already evident everywhere else in JC). CONCLUSION: JC misses the ball once again and trades long-term viability for short-term gains, thinking "what can go wrong when you are right next door to Manhattan"? Isn't the failure of that argument self-evident in the history of JC?
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