Shop on Grove Street

We've been working on a handy little Grove Street area shopping guide, sort of like a mall directory, but without all the insipid elevator music or build-a-bear workshops. Not only does Grove Street have some great restaurants, but a number of unique and independent retailers worth patronizing. We're still working on adding a few previously overlooked businesses, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't check it out now:

Grove Street Shopping District

Failed Housewares Store Replaced With New Housewares Store

Kannibal Home, a fancy housewares merchant, has replaced On The Inside, a similar store that closed a few months back. The Montgomery Street shop is tiny, but filled with both home goods and women's apparel. Below, the former shop on the site, On the Inside:

Grove Street Bicycle Shop Opens

A new bicycle shop opened on Grove Street at First Street. The store is stuffed with bicycles and accessories.

Tasti D-Lite Really Coming

Tasti D-Lite really is coming to the base of Grove Pointe. The storefront on Marin Blvd will join Duane Reade, Starbucks, Valley National Bank, and an organic dry cleaners. Three other retail locations are still available. For now, the northeast corner space houses three art pieces constructed of Lego bricks.

Tasti D-Lite Coming to Grove Pointe

Tasti D-Lite, the faux ice cream chain is coming to Jersey City in the base of the Grove Pointe tower. Grove Pointe is a little outpost of Manhattan with both a Starbucks and Duane Reade.

Via JCList

Mystery Marin Blvd Tower

The architects DeWitt Tishman reveal an image of mysterious Marin Blvd Tower. The 28 story, 220 unit tower with 3,600 square feet of retail is probably too short to be one of the proposed Toll Brothers Towers. Toll wants to build 30, 35, and 40 story towers on property abutting Marin Blvd in the Powerhouse District.

The mystery tower is more likely a lot bound by Morgan and Bay Streets, on the west side of Marin Blvd and owned by Exeter Property. The lot, currently an outdoor parking area, is listed on the city's downtown Development map as having 221 units and 8,600 square feet of retail. DeWitt Tishman is responsible for towers like Grove Pointe and the Jersey City Trump Plaza.

UPDATE
Several readers have pointed out the Jersey City Fire House in the background, which would place the tower on the north west corner of Sixth and Marin. This makes sense, with the small gray block on the far left of the image being the tip of the embankment edge. Google Maps shows this nicely. That revelation only adds to the mystery.

Grove Street Bicycles Construction Watch

The store front for the future Grove Street Bicycles is currently under construction, wrapped up in a plywood shell while work crews prepare the site. How soon the new shop will open is ambiguous.

Bike Shop Coming to Grove Street

A vacant store front on Grove Street near First has a construction permit issued to Grove Bicycle.

Grove Street Eating

The Asian fusion restaurant set to open in the old location of Rachel cafe on Grove Street is set to open on August 4. The signs refer to the restaurant as "More," but we find it hard to believe anyone would call a restaurant "More."



A new 'gourmet' deli has opened on Grove Street, replacing what had been a bodega.

American Watercolor Movement Grooves on Grove

Groove on Grove Street continued with indie rock band American Watercolor Movement. Wednesday proved another gorgeous day for an outdoor concert and local crowds seem to be growing. Grove Street may not be Mccarren Pool, but the concerts in Jersey City may be just a bit more genuine.

Groove at Grove: 1 & 9's

Wednesday's Groove on Grove, the concert series held outside the Grove Street PATH station featured Well Baby and the 1 & 9's. Above, the 1&9s play a set.

The 1&9's MySpace page

Summer Retail Thriving Downtown

Newport
Morton Williams opened yesterday in the base of the Shore Club in Newport. The high end grocery store is responsible for Newport rescinding the summer farmer's market at the Pavonia PATH station. The waterfront location is the first in New Jersey for the New York chain of premium grocers.

Kim's Video in Newport is rumored to be closing come Sunday, with genuine closeout deals on all the merchandise, up to 50% off. Kim's had been suffering a slow death over the last year.


Kim's Video in Newport


Newark Avenue
Newark Avenue looking a bit more like Paris these days. Cafe tables have sprouted up along the street in the mythical Restaurant Row. Helen's Pizza started the trend, but tables are now outside of Sawadee Thai and bar/lounge/bistro LITM. The roof deck at Skinner's Loft has also opened for the season, though apparently is only for dinner between 7 and 9.

One of the generic Newark Avenue electronics stores is closing shop and moving a block west, to reopen at 184 Newark Avenue. The independent electronic shop is taking over where Helen's Ice Cream stand was, adjacent to Helen's Pizza. The new space is much smaller.

Gas Clothing, an apparel store, recently opened as well. The building received a face lift too with the ugly metal grates having been ripped off the front -- a sure sign that the neighborhood is changing.

Gas, a new clothing store

Grove Street
Rachel, the awful little cafe on the south end of Grove Street that closed last year may soon become a new restaurant promises a sign posted in the window. The new eatery will make use of the outdoor garden and is rumored to be another Thai restaurant.


A new restaurant on Grove Street


A new wine and spirit shop is planned for Grove Street just north of Newark Avenue in the old Crescent Restaurant location, an eatery long since closed.

Crescent on Grove Street is no more

Jersey Avenue
Fish With Braids, a new gallery, opened on Jersey Avenue between Newark Avenue and Columbus Blvd. The space is small. The name, by the way, comes from the fact that the location is between a hair braiding salon and a fish market.


Fish With Braids gallery on Jersey Avenue


Shoe Fetish, a small boutique of featuring ladies shoes, has thrown in the towel and closed up shop. Our take is that the store probably was catering to ladies of the evening when they should have instead been stocking Converse.


Shoe Fetish has failed


Grove Pointe
Valley National Bank is setting up shop in Grove Pointe on the Marin Blvd side of the tower. Along with Starbucks and Duane Reade, Grove Pointe's retail is looking like nearly every street corner in Manhattan.

Grove Street Development Needs Zoning Change

South Grove, a proposed development spanning Grove Street between York and Montgomery Streets, apparently needs a zoning change. Curbed notes their rather interesting marketing tactic. A sign has gone up asking what residents would prefer on the site, including such horrendous options as a drive through taco bell. The proposal, originally known as Majestic II, is several years old, with some renderings at JC Vibe.

In December of 2007, the site was cleared of the old carpet store (pictured below), during a rather dramatic demolition. But since then the lot has served as a surface parking lot offering validated parking for a restaurant in the Exeter built Majestic, across the street.



Exeter Properties recently completed the Schroeder Lofts, a few blocks north in the Hamilton Park neighborhood, and currently are working on the rehabilitation of the old St. Francis Hospital being marketed as Hamilton Square.

Starbucks On Thursday?

Rumors are circulating that the wait for the Grove Pointe Starbucks may finally be coming to an end. According to the Grove St. Blog, the Grove Pointe Starbucks is set to open on Thursday.

Starbucks rumors first started circulating more than a year ago. Many brushed those rumors aside as merely Realtor marketing ploys to sell condos. But in the first week of January a coming soon sign heralding Starbucks' arrival appeared. Construction on the retail space moved quickly and the tell tale Starbucks Beacon has been illuminated for several nights already.

Rumor has it a third downtown Starbucks is still planned for the waterfront. The Newport Starbucks was closed for several months last year while undergoing renovations.

Via JC Reader

Gourmet Chinese Restaurant Set to Open This Week

Grand Sichuan bought Grove Street noodle shop DJ Garden (pictured below) a few months back and now are in the process of renovating the restaurant. Grand Sichuan promises genuine Sichuan cuisine, and should be open March 13th.




Grand Sichuan via JC List

Retail Happenings

Duane Reade Now Hiring
The long awaited Duane Reade planned for retail space in the Grove Pointe apartment tower may soon be opening its doors. The retail space along Newark Avenue, just west of the condominium entrance, is now donning the tell tale "Duane Reade Red" trim on interior walls and columns. And of course, there is this posted sign declaring the new location is seeking new hires.



Vintage Store Replaces Tea House
Local vintage store Another Man's Treasure is set to move in April from its current Brunswick Street location to 353 Grove Street. Janam Tea House, the former tenant of the Grove Street location, packed up and moved to the Pacific Northwest in February.



The Embankment Opens In Schroeder Lofts
A new restaurant and bar opened over the weekend in the corner retail space of the Schroeder Lofts. The Embankment is from the same folks who run The Merchant, a Grove Street establishment. Menus are online; the restaurant is located at Erie and 10th.

Bits & Briefs

Free PATH Rides Monday
The Port Authority will provide free rides on Monday celebrating 100 years of service, strange smells.

Transformer Explodes at Grove Street
A transformer reportedly blew up on Grove Street around 1pm today.

Journal Confirms Long Rumored Duane Reade

Duane Reade, the New York pharmacy synonymous with Manhattan street corners, has been confirmed as a tenant of Grove Pointe by Hudson Now, a Jersey Journal Blog.

The rumor that Duane Reade was coming to Grove Pointe has been circulating since at least last January. Hudson Now cites a real estate broker as a source of the coming 8,000 square foot store. An anonymous poster on internet board Kannekt claimed a doorman at the Grove Pointe complex confirmed the arrival weeks ago, and that the pharmacy would occupy the retail space immediately west of 102 Columbus, the Condominium entrance of the tower.

Grove Street Area Rental Towers Filling Up

Two new rental towers opened late last year around the Grove Street PATH station. 50 Columbus, a Costas Kondylis designed tower east of Marin and Grove Pointe, a condo / rental mixed tower between Grove and Marin. 50 Columbus is now 75% leased, claims this press release, meaning 300 of the 400 luxury apartments are accounted for. Over at Grove Pointe, rental agents are telling prospective leasers the rental tower will be filled before March.

The success of 50 Columbus likely means construction on additional towers on the western side of the lot will begin sooner, rather than later. 70 and 90 Columbus are a pair of 48 story towers to be built on the corner of Marin and Columbus, adding another 1,000 units to the complex.

The area around the Grove Street is ground zero for a new wave of planned construction. Across the street from 50 Columbus, two 23 story residential towers have been approved as part of the Metropolis Towers expansion. For now it seems these two towers are temporarily on hold in part due to the current credit crisis. Just north of 50 Columbus, the Toll Brothers are pushing to build three new high-rise towers, though these face community opposition and their fate is still uncertain.

Times Gives Grove Pointe, Columbus Plaza Reach Around

Sunday's times has a bit on the developers of Grove Pointe and Columbus Tower, both of which opened their rental units in the past few weeks. It seems Grove Pointe is asking for higher rents, with studios starting at $1800-- at Columbus they start at $1600.

Mayor Healy "But our entire city is a mass-transit utopia...it is much easier to get to Manhattan from here than from any of the four boroughs — and that is the most important reason why we are a successful city." Sure, but with 1,000 new apartments opening this month and another 5,000 on the way we have to wonder how often Healy rides the PATH at Rush Hour.

Columbus Tower Open

Columbus Tower is officially open for business, reports Real Deal. The 400 rental units in 50 Columbus is the first of three towers at Colmbus Plaza.

Columbus Tower: New Towers, Retail

Searching through commercial property listings has revealed two bits of information. First, available retail sites include the north east corner of the tower on Warren and Steuben Streets as well as space on the Columbus side.

But more importantly is the description of phase II: "Preliminary designs for Phase II consist of 1.1 million square feet of either a 30-story office tower or 750 residential units in multiple towers with ancillary retail and parking."

No doubt the final deciding factor will be current market conditions.

BIts & Briefs

OKs shorter abatement
Grove Pointe's abbreviated abatement on the rental portion of the tower was approved.

Cinco Tacos, Hold de Mayo
Downtown Taqueria gets some love from the Hudson Current

Toll Brother's City Living
Hoiboken411 reports on Toll Brother's ratings of housing markets. The Jersey City / Hoboken Market gets high marks.

Bits & Briefs

Ibby's Returns
Ibby's Falafel, the much beloved Grove Street fixture closed for months of renovations has finally reopened. Go, eat falafel.

Developer scales back abatement
Grove Pointe is backing out of its 20 year tax abatement in favor of phasing in regular taxes over the next five years citing a savings for the developer.

This Way Up
New Jersey Monthly gives some love to Jersey City, months after New York Magazine, totally justifying our name once again.

Demolition Begins
Hoboken Hero has some great demolition porn from the west side of Hoboken.

Bits & Briefs

Littered park to be pretty 'plaza'
The Grove Street PATH plaza has a name, and has nothing to do with Grove or Pointe.


A park extending onto roofs up for discussion in Hoboken
12 story high development approved for Hoboken with the caveat of public roof decks, or something crazy like that.

More Ugly

111 First Street may not be the ugliest building to grace the Jersey City skyline. Gridskipper went and asked a bunch of experts what they thought were the ugliest buildings in Manhattan. Joey Arak, writer for Curbed points to the Zebra Building saying "You come up from the tunnel, thrilled to be out of Jersey, and you're greeted by that monstrosity."

What does this have to do with Jersey City you ask? Well one of the newest editions to the Jersey City Skyline is Columbus Tower, a younger sibling of the Zebra building.

We tend to think we got the better version of the building.






Via Curbed

Steuben Street Getting 18 Units

GlobeSt.com is reporting that 154 Steuben Street will soon see 18 units rise from a parking lot located there. The building is being built by TreeTop of New York, and Fields Development, responsible for Waldo Lofts, among others downtown.

154 Steuben is located just north of Columbus Plaza and Tower with this neighborhood fast becoming the heart of the new downtown. At the end of Steuben Street is the proposed Morgan Point. A block north of there is the Manishevitz property bought recently by Toll Brothers, and speculation has said there could soon be a 40 story tower on that property. Just to south of Columbus Plaza is the Metropolis Towers property where two proposed 25 story towers and several mid-rise buildings could soon be built.

Via Wired Forums

109 Christopher Columbus Drive

A month ago, this small commuter parking lot was filled with cars. And then we saw a piece of heavy equipment parked on the lot and a green privacy fence that usually means some sort of construction. From what we can tell, we're talking about a small mixed use development with shops-- 10,000 square feet-- on the ground floor and 18 apartment units above. Its about time this section of Columbus Drive saw some redevelopment. As usually, large photos are on the photoblog.

Starbucks, Duane Reade: Rumored Arrivals

According to a rumor circulating over on the Kannekt forum, Grove Pointe will soon be home to everyone's favorite Seattle Coffee house and a Duane Reade. An anonymous user writes:

"I went to sales office, they said that Starbucks and Duane Reade have already signed on for retail space"

Of course, the great thing about anonymous users is that they can say whatever they want and don't need any real proof. Not that this stops us from reporting that Starbucks is on its way. On one hand, both Starbucks and Duane Reade would seem to be the perfect fit for a new high rise tower. On the other hand, the sort of people buying into Grove Pointe or leasing Columbus Plaza probably would see both as an amenity they couldn't give up moving out of Manhattan. We wouldn't put it past a sales agent to anonymously report a coming Starbucks to move a unit or two. But that being said, a Grove Pointe Starbucks fits with the other rumors we've heard.

Starbucks Rumors

A tipster tells us a rumor is circulating that Starbucks might be scouting locations on Grove Street or Columbus Drive. The tipster claimed a Newport Starbucks employee had made the claim that two new locations would soon be headed to the downtown area. We all know how untrustworthy baristas can be (like "oh yeah, that's totally a dupio" when clearly its only a single shot of espresso goodness), but we think that about the time New York Magazine declares a place "cool", that's probably about the time Starbucks begins to fully assimilate a neighborhood. A quick search of various job listing sites doesn't seem to turn up any results for more downtown Starbucks positions, but of course assuming a Starbucks was headed for Grove Pointe or Columbus Tower-- both likely corporate coffee chain locations-- those retail spaces are still months away from serving up any black gold.

Metropolis Expansion Revealed?

Rumors have been circulating all over the internet ever since Metropolis Towers began to demolish the low-rise strip mall between the two towers. Yet, with all the other construction projects around the site-- Grove Pointe, Columbus Plaza, and Gulls Cove just to name a few-- its easy to forget the potential of this lot.

According to the online portfolio of DMR Architects though, there will be three phase construction at the complex. Phase I will include two 25 Story towers with 420 units of apartments. These two are towers are perhaps the most hyped-- sort of like the Apple iPod Phone. Based on our own perceptions of the area compared with the renderings, we're thinking these towers will run along Columbus Drive, directly across the street from Columbus Tower & Plaza.

But what gets interesting is Phase II and III. DMR architects has a fairly extensive portfolio when it comes to urban redevelopment and urban in fill projects. And that's exactly what Metropolis Towers needs-- an urban landscape instead of bare parking lots fenced off from a vibrant downtown. In either case, according to the DMR website, a low or mid rise apartment complex and a similar office tower will fill out the rest of the site-- and there is plenty of room, particularly along Warren Street.

In either case, we've taking into consideration the two renderings as well as our own observations and pieced together a rough map of the planned construction.




Metropolis Expansion Map

Demolition Photos

Park At Grove Street PATH Opens, Sort Of

The long closed "park" at the corner of Christopher Columbus and Grove Street opened today, sort of. The park is quite obviously not finished, and not too obviously a park yet either. The developers of Grove Pointe agreed to rebuild the park while constructing the tower.



Astute observers may be asking themselves what exactly was changed. All the old brick and concrete were replaced with new brick and concrete. The big twist though is instead of squared off corners, the new park features a curved bench like wall. And as for the brick, the park now has red pavers (below) instead of the bluish gray that was once there. The crazy homeless guy who lives in the park was unavailable for comment.



As usual, larger photos here