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Monday, February 01, 2010

Liberty Harbor Could Get Interim Buildings

Over the weekend, the Hudson Reporter printed a bit on grocery stores leading to the inevitable speculation on whether a Whole Foods would come to town (still not coming). More interesting though was Liberty Harbor North developer Peter Mocco's mention of constructing an interim building:


“The kind of dilemma that I deal with is the idea of single stand-alone supermarket building that would be an interim solution, but would have to be taken down when I build a much a larger building that would allow for a food store on the ground floor,” Mocco said.


The original Liberty Harbor plans called for a grocery store and mixed use mini-tower on the corner of Grand and Jersey Avenue. The building would round out the north west corner of the development.

But since the opening of the first LHN buildings, the economy crashed and new construction has been delayed. The completion of existing structures has been a slow process with no plans to break ground on new buildings any time soon. Mocco has previously said, about a year ago, that new construction was at least two years away.

The construction of a dedicated single story grocery store, even if temporary, would not be a positive step for the redevelopment of the neighborhood. Interim buildings tend to take on a more permanent role then intended, even in master planned communities. There is not a dearth of grocery stores available either, with PathMark about 500 feet further west then Liberty Harbor.

Currently the location serves as a parking lot for public school staff by day and beer garden patrons by night.

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Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Finishing Touches in Liberty Harbor



Construction in Liberty Harbor North has slowed to a crawl and new buildings aren't expected to break ground for a while. However, at the southwest end of the current development are three buildings receiving their finishing touches.

The Regent finishes off the end of the street. The rental building will sport a rooftop pool and be the third of the larger residential towers after the Sutton and the Zenith. The marketing department claims the brickwork reminiscent of Art Deco, but our first thought was that it resembled the Kalahari Apartments.

Adjacent to the Regent are two more buildings, row houses sporting an anything goes architectural style.





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Monday, June 29, 2009

Beer Garden Opens to Crowds



Friday night saw the opening of the Zeppelin Beer Hall, a massive German style beer garden in the base of the Zenith, a luxury rental tower in the newly opened neighborhood of Liberty Harbor North on the south side of the downtown. The beer hall has a capacity of 800 and claims more than 144 taps, though the total number of available beers is much lower than that.

The main beer hall features two separate rooms with bars, as well as a food service station. Within the hall are picnic tables that match those outside, and in the secondary room is a small bandstand, though no musicians performed over the weekend.

Friday service opened to a beautiful summer afternoon interrupted only briefly by a sudden downpour. But the beauty of Zeppelin Hall is the large capacity inside as well as out, and until the rain passed, there was plenty of room indoors. After the rain cleared, the outdoor tables quickly filled.

The staff seemed unprepared Friday to deal with the crush of people. The two indoor bars were both overwhelmed and the outdoor bar did not open Friday. The bartenders flipped a stack of credit cards representing open tabs like a pile of playing cards. Customers could choose from a half liter ($5), liter ($10), or pitcher ($15), and the sheer number of orders simply slowed service to a crawl.

The garden abuts against the light rail track, and the train sounds an air horn as it approaches a grade crossing and Jersey Avenue station, also adjacent to the garden. Saturday night patrons began cheering each time a train passed to the chagrin of residents of the Zenith rental building prompting noise complaints.

Sunday afternoon brought out a family crowd, and by late afternoon the garden was again filled with everyone seven to seventy. The installation of umbrellas provided shade Sunday too. By Sunday, the long lines for beer seemed to have abated, and the outdoor taps were turned on.

The beer hall has plenty of room indoors and out. There is plenty of space between tables to walk, and enough open areas where groups of people can gather.

The kitchen serves a variety of burgers and German style sausages. By Sunday, they had sold out of most of the sausage varieties, with only a kielbasa available, served with fries and sauerkraut. The burgers are passable; some interesting combinations are available, including burgers with kielbasa, but the beef isn't terribly high quality. The fries were fresh, crisp and everything you would want.

Parking is available at a lot on Jersey Avenue, about a block away from the beer hall. But with easy access to public transportation, and the quantity of beer flowing from the establishment, its probably better not to drive. The Jersey Avenue light rail station is a block away and trains run every ten minutes. The location is also just 6 blocks from the Grove Street PATH station, making the beer hall about 15 minutes door to door from lower Manhattan, a far easier trip than the hour to Astoria. See the Google Map for how to get there from the PATH and Light Rail.


After an early rain storm, crowds fill up the garden on Friday night




A mock German style building inside the beer hall adds to the whimsy



The floors inside the beer hall add to the German feel



Sunday afternoon was a family friendly crowd



Umbrellas were installed Sunday morning



Yes, that's the window of a luxury rental apartment 10 feet above the beer garden



By Sunday, the outdoor bar was operating too


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Thursday, June 25, 2009

Beer Garden Finally Opening



Rumor has it that the Zeppelin Hall, a German Style Biergarten is finally expected to open on Friday afternoon, serving up beer and sausages and all sorts of German food.

A tipster sent us the above photo as well as this one from the inside:



Zeppelin Hall is located in the base of the Zenith, shown below, in Liberty Harbor North.

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Thursday, March 12, 2009

Organic Dry Cleaning in Liberty Harbor


Liberty Harbor's latest retail opening is an organic dry cleaners along Grand Street.

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Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Liberty Harbor North Tower 3



detail brick work on the Liberty Harbor Tower in Jersey City

A detail of the brickwork.


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Monday, February 23, 2009

Bakery Begins Construction, Joins Facebook



Cocoa Bakery has begun construction on the interior of their retail space at Liberty Harbor, and posted photos on their Facebook page.

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Thursday, February 19, 2009

Liberty Harbor North






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Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Liberty Harbor North Tower 3



Slow and steady, Liberty Harbor North chugs along. This final section is likely to be the last for a while, at least until the economy picks up.


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Sweeter Side of Jersey City



Cocoa Bakery and Cafe is coming to Liberty Harbor North, a few doors down from Edible Arrangements. The bakery and cafe is the product of pastry chef Jessica Isaacs of notable Manhattan eatery, Nobu.

Meanwhile, a few blocks away, the Made with Love Organic Bakery will soon be replacing Sweet Priscilla. The new bakery is just a few doors away from cookie factory Feed Your Soul.



Cocoa Bakery Cafe
Made With Love

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Monday, December 08, 2008

Edible Arrangements Opens



Edible Arrangements, the fruit cut like flowers, is the first retail shop to open in Liberty Harbor North. Earlier this summer the banner announcing the arrival of the shop went up. Still, the real question yet to be answered is how many fruit flower bouquets does the world need?

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Friday, September 26, 2008

Liberty Harbor Slammed By City, Courts

The Liberty Harbor North development has been having a rough week. The city is demanding payment of $100,000 in unpaid fees for the operation of a parking lot, a judge awarded $18 million to a property for land seized through eminent domain, and the city is fining the developer for an illegal billboard.

Liberty Harbor has been operating a parking lot on Jersey Avenue, the future site of retail building and parking garage in the development. The lot was leased to the board of education to provide parking for faculty, but developer Peter Mocco has not been paying city parking taxes for the spaces. Now the city is looking for $100,000 from the last year that went unpaid.

In an unrelated ruling, a segment of land within the development will cost about four times as much as had been previously paid. A three and a half acre lot in the redevelopment zone was seized through eminent by the city, and bought back by Mocco. A judge ruled the property owner should have been paid $18 million, and ultimately that will come back to being the developer's responsibility.

Finally, an advertising billboard on Grand Street violates city codes, and the city is fining the developer more than $1,000.

Liberty Harbor North is a long planned development that will eventually have between 8,000 and 10,000 housing units, a million square feet of office space, and retail districts. Construction in the first phase has slowed following last years mortgage crisis and a dearth of new buyers. Three new streets of faux brownstones have so far been completed and two larger buildings; a third larger building is currently under construction. Mocco stated several months ago that there would no new construction for a least a year, save for the completion of the half built buildings.

Other lots in the redevelopment zone are being built by third party contractors, including a residential tower that broke ground on Grand Street last week.

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Friday, September 19, 2008

Pile Driver Appears on Grand Street Lot

A pile driver showed up this week on the lot immediately north of Gulls Cove on a lot in the Liberty Harbor North development zone bound by Grand Street and Marin blvd. Several piles have been driven into the ground, though these might be test pilings rather than a sign construction has started.

The lot, according to a map from the city's Division of Planning, is to be a residential tower built by Applied Development. Applied Development operates several rental towers in Jersey City including nearby 50 Columbus and The Gotham.

Work at many other downtown projects slowed or stalled earlier this year as credit became more difficult to come by.

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Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Liberty Harbor North


A few more photos of the new (and temporarily, last) Liberty Harbor North Building. New construction beyond the completion of this building is on hold for at least a year on the site.

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Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Liberty Harbor North Continues, Slowly



Progress at the massive Liberty Harbor North project continues at a snail's pace. Rumors are circulating that only the existing construction will continue, and new buildings will not break ground for at least a year. This news may disappoint many hoping for a downtown Whole Foods since an Liberty Harbor was often mentioned as a potential location for the gourmet grocer.



Building 3 continues to grow, albeit at an extremely slow pace. To the right, the Lofts rental tower. The lofts building still needs finishes.






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Monday, July 14, 2008

Liberty Harbor Retail Unwrapped

The first retail location in Liberty Harbor North was unveiled


The tarp has been removed from the first of the Grand Street retail spaces in Liberty Harbor North. Edible Arrangements seems to be looking to be the first store to open in the complex. The retail spaces in the "brownstone" style buildings are set slightly below street level.

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Thursday, June 26, 2008

Cocoa Bakery Cafe Coming to Liberty Harbor

Liberty Harbor North will be home to a new cafe and bakery by Nobu's pastry chef Jessica Isaacs. Cocoa Bakery Cafe will open by the year's end at the latest, though likely sooner. The cafe will feature pastries, cakes and desserts, as well as offering custom made wedding cakes.

Cocoa Bakery Cafe joins Edible Arrangements along the Grand Street retail corridor.

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Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Downturn Leads Trump to Modify Plans

An NJN report on the Hudson Bergen Light rail mentions in passing that Donald Trump has "modified" development plans due to the downturn in housing. Likely this means delaying the second tower, which seemed fairly self evident.

Peter Mocco, developer of Liberty Harbor North, appeared in the NJN segment, though dodged the question as to the possible effect of a slowing housing market on that development. He did suggest Jersey City may be somewhat more isolated from the rest of the housing slump due to its proximity to New York.

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Friday, June 20, 2008

Edible Arrangements Coming to Liberty Harbor North

Edible Arrangements in Jersey City in the Liberty Harbor North development


Edible Arrangements, the flower bundles made from carved fruit, is coming to Liberty Harbor North's Grand Street retail strip.

Residents have been living in Liberty Harbor North for several months already, but retail so far is still in development. Along Grand Street, the base of the 'brownstone' units contain retail spaces that are finally now being finished. Also along grand street are two actual historic properties with retail space that have been rehabbed.

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Thursday, June 19, 2008

Liberty Harbor North Tower 3



The third large size tower at Liberty Harbor North continues steadily upward. Two other mid rise buildings are nearly complete, the Sutton and the Lofts, while many of the low rise buildings such as the faux brownstones are already occupied.

This building will continue to extend the development further south.


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Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Liberty Harbor North Gaming Search Engines

Someone from Liberty Harbor North's sales department isn't happy with their Google rank. Links to the website LibertyHarbor.com have begun appearing on Jersey City focused message boards in posts that are little more than human generated spam.

Posts on JCList linking to LibertyHarbor.com appeared as non sequitur statements in threads having little to do with Liberty Harbor North. The messages originated from different user accounts, but shared an Internet Protocol address, the unique way a computer is identified over the net.

The goal of the messages is for search engines to associate certain words such as "Jersey City" and "condos" with the site. Many search engines categorize websites using the words included in the link to the site.

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Friday, December 21, 2007

Bits & Briefs

Newark Ave. Nights
The Village Voice justifies this site by declaring Skinner's Loft "quietly make(s) this city the best little neighborhood in New York."

20 acres of ick to be gold patch
The Journal reports on the cleanup of the site just west of Liberty Harbor North, a chemical infested patch of land on the edge of the downtown that will soon be prepared for housing.

Jersey City to sell Newark Avenue building
Hudson Now confirms that the city plans on selling 121 Newark Avenue, a building that spans the width of the block from Newark Avenue to Columbus Drive just west of Grove Street. The expected $4 million price tag will fill holes in the city's budget; redevelopment of the building may fill some holes in Newark Avenue.

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Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Hibachi Confirmed for Gulls Cove

Globest.com reports that Sawa Hibachi has signed a lease for Gulls Cove, a Metrohomes tower under construction in the Liberty Harbor North redevelopment area of Jersey City. The building sits across the street from the Marin Blvd. Light Rail Station and is five blocks from the Grove Street PATH station.

Via JCList.

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Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Bits & Briefs

Jersey City Condo Conversion Project Sells Over 50 Percent of Units
The Dixon Mills conversation to condominiums has sold half of the units, or at least the sales office claims as much.

Wired to Sell
The Times looks at Liberty Harbor North and all the electronic toys.

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Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Bits & Briefs

Condo rises in new Jersey City neighborhood
A bit on the Liberty Harbor North Development.

Harwood Closes on Journal Square Parcel
One step closer to making Journal Square hospitable.

Jefforson Trust
Hoboken411 has pretty renderings of the proposed expansion of the Jefferson Trust building in Hoboken.

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Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Then and Now: Liberty Harbor

As Liberty Harbor North prepares to close on the first units of the project this summer, we thought it might be time to pause and reflect on the changes that have occurred in this city within a city over the last two years. After reaching way back into our archive, we came across the below photo from sometime in the summer of 2005 of Grand Street at the corner of Barrow:





Larger Image

Fast forward to May 13, 2007, and this is the same shot of Grand Street, now lined with new age brownstone buildings.



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Monday, April 09, 2007

Bits & Briefs

The Future of Jersey City
The new issue of Jersey City Magazine is out and ponders where the city is going.

6.2 acres of tax rise reduction
The Journal Reports that the city and the state have come to an agreement over a bit of land in the Liberty Harbor North redevelopment allowing the new Hilton Hotel to move forward.

Oldie But Goodie
A historic Hoboken street sign built into the corner of the building as captured by Hoboken Hero.

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Wednesday, January 17, 2007

296 Grand Street Breaks Ground

296 Grand Street was approved in October. Its a fairly small project compared to Liberty Harbor North going in across the street.



According to the official website, the 4 story, 6 unit building will have roof top decks with views of the statue of liberty and lower Manhattan, at least before Liberty Harbor construction is finished. 296 Grand Street sits along Barrow between Bright and Grand, and with expected completion sometime around September of this year, you can bet those units are sold before southern most towers in Liberty Harbor even have a finalized set of blue prints.

See More Photos

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Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Liberty Harbor Hotel?

Rumors on the Wired New York forums point to renderings of a hotel project slated for Liberty Harbor North.

According to the the architect's website, the client is Tramz Hotel, a hotel management company.

Anyway, some stats supplied by the architectural firm:

300 Room Hilton Hotel with Street-Level Shops
21-Story Luxury Condominium Tower with Duplex Penthouses
8-Story Liner Block-Front Condominium Building
Eight 4-Story Townhouses

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Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Grand Street Construction Benefits from Liberty Harbor

Some soon to be completed condos along Grand Street seem to be taking advantage of their proximity to the Liberty Harbor North Development. We've been watching as the entire Grand Street's aging housing stock is stripped away and replaced.



This is the second set of modern row houses to go up along Street. In addition, a lot bound by Grand, Barrow, and Bright has recently been excavated. We suspect we'll be seeing a good number more of these.

More Photos

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