The former railyard on the Weehawken waterfront has slowly blossomed into a new neighborhood, complete with upscale residential buildings, shops, and restaurants. Now the area, known as Port Imperial, is about to get a new, two-tower condo building called Avora. Industrious photographer Tectonic brings us a look at the site, where the foundation and first floor are going in.
The 11-story, 184-unit building launched sales last month, with apartments priced from $800,000. Multinational architecture firm IBI Group is designing the one-, two-, and three-bedroom homes, several of which will come with balconies or roof decks. The building will also come with a laundry list of luxury amenities, including a private screening theater, concierge, pet grooming, fitness center, and a third-floor terrace with a pool, grills, and fire pits. And more run of the mill add-ons like storage and parking.
The ground floor will include 6,000 square feet of retail, but no tenants have been announced for the storefronts yet. Residents are expected to move in by early 2018.
The U.S. arm of Chinese developer Landsea is building the project, which is the company’s first in the greater New York City area. 70 foreign EB-5 investors put money into the development, according to Landsea’s website.
A rendering of the Avora condos, which Landsea is developing in Weehawken. rendering by New World Group
Under the federal EB-5 program, investors from other countries pump at least $500,000 in a new development, and in exchange, they get a green card. The policy has become controversial over the last couple years, and it’s not only because it functions an immigration backdoor for the wealthy elite. Developers often gerrymander the program—which requires that each investment generate 10 full-time jobs—to make it seem like they are building in areas with high unemployment, when in fact they are developing in wealthy urban neighborhoods. As the EB-5 law was set to expire last month, the House of Representatives considered a bill that would raise the minimum investment in high-unemployment areas to $800,000. Ultimately, Congress passed a stopgap bill that extended the program’s funding until after the election.
Another rendering of the Avora, by New World Group
Update: We mistakenly used a photo of the K. Hovnanian project in West New York in the initial version of this story. We’ve updated the post with photos of the Avora site and regret the error.
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The construction photo is not Lansdsea’s site but appears to be one of K Hovnaninan’s sites in West New York ( which is less luxurious and much less sophistocated than the AVORA ). The Avora is also a LEED project.
http://www.earthcam.net/projects/landsea/weehawken/
The photo you are showing of the building under construction is not Avora. It’s actually a condo site being built by K. Hovnanian north of Avora, in West New York (also part of Port Imperial).
Yeah, if you look, the building to the right shouldn’t be there, since there is the small harbor for the ferry terminal, not a building. The building of the picture is one kilometer to the north, one block away from Riverwak Pl.
Construction on each floor near river level, call me any time to see this view for the moment.