On Thursday, at a little before noon, a groundbreaking ceremony was held for 99 Hudson Street in Jersey City. Located on a site bounded by Hudson, Grand, Greene, and York streets, the 900-foot-tall mixed-use condominium tower will likely be the tallest building in the state and one of the tallest residential buildings in the entire country. The event not only kicked off construction, but also provided a venue to show off new renderings of the project.
Scroll down to see them.
Currently, the tallest building in Jersey City and New Jersey are one and the same. That is the Goldman Sachs tower at 30 Hudson Street. Standing 780-feet-tall, it was completed in 2004.
Rendering of 99 Hudson Street released in January of 2015. Via City of Jersey City.
The new 79-story building will be home to 781 residential units that, Cindy Xu, president of developer China Overseas America, Inc., said will have the “best view in the world.” She said there will be 15,000 square feet of retail space and about 14,000 square feet of public space. An official release from the city of Jersey City said there will be a 7,365-square-foot public plaza.
Cindy Xu speaks at the groundbreaking for 99 Hudson Street.
The groundbreaking ceremony was opened by George Garcia of the law firm Genova Burns, who called it a “very special project” and part of the “renaissance of Jersey City.”
George Garcia speaks at the groundbreaking for 99 Hudson Street.
Mayor Steven Fulop spoke of how his “city of immigrants” has grown and told YIMBY he is proud of the partnership and one-half-billion-dollar investment that will “remake the Jersey City skyline.”
Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop speaks at the groundbreaking for 99 Hudson Street.
Architect Ming Wu of Perkins Eastman Architects spoke about the design of the approximately 1.5 million-square-foot development and gave some specifics. The retail storefronts will feature oversized windows between limestone piers with granite bases. The tower itself will be clad in glorious limestone, one of the classy touches on the seemingly well-designed structure. “You have enabled a global building,” he told the assembled guests.
Architect Ming Wu speaks at the groundbreaking for 99 Hudson Street.
He said the public plaza at the corner of Grand and Greene streets will bring “new vibrancy” to the area, just about two blocks from the Exchange Place PATH station.
Rendering of 99 Hudson Street in Jersey City, corner of Grand and Greene streets.
“Now the fun begins,” said Richard Wood of Plaza Construction not long before the ceremonial shovels hit the ceremonial dirt. He said 99 Hudson will be a “new benchmark for high-rise living” and said it will enhance the city.
Richard Wood speaks at the groundbreaking for 99 Hudson Street.
Here are some shots of the shiny groundbreaking shovels.
As promised, here are the new renderings:
The project was announced on January 20, 2015. Construction is expected to be completed in 2018 and 99 Hudson Street is expected to open in 2019.
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Plaza Construction is now owned by China Construction America (a sub of a state-owned construction company), the same company behind the controversial and bankrupt white elephant known as Baha Mar. I’d be curious to know more about the financing behind this.
When it comes to commercial properties, a bankrupt property does not have recourse to the company behind it. The company could do very well while some of its properties go to bankruptcy due to poor performance. Thus, there is probably nothing interesting you can find from this project’s financing.