New renderings have been revealed for The Lucy, a 24-story residential building at 619 Grove Street near the waterfront of Jersey City, New Jersey. Designed by Michael Graves Architecture and developed in a collaboration between SJP Properties, Claremont Development, and Battery Global Advisors, the structure is slated to yield 444 rental units with 13 reserved for affordable housing. The project will rise next to a historic church, rectory, and school on a property bounded by 16th Street to the north, 15th Street to the south, and Grove Street to the east.
The main rendering shows a striking design with a triangular cantilever at the southeast corner that overhangs the church steeple. The façade will be composed of a glass curtain wall with beveled metal paneling around its perimeter. Spandrels within the reflective envelope follow the sloping geometry of the cantilever, accentuating its bold form.
The new aerial rendering below looks northeast at the upper setbacks and rooftop deck, previewing the vistas of the Manhattan across the Hudson River. This image also shows the western lot line wall clad in what appears to be gray aluminum paneling surrounding a grid of punched windows. A cutout in this rear side of the building will create an interior courtyard within the building’s U-shaped footprint.
The Lucy at 619 Grove Street. Designed by Michael Graves Architecture.
The lobby will incorporate restored stained glass windows from the church and will include a reception desk, a fireplace, and lounge seating.
The Lucy at 619 Grove Street. Rendering courtesy of Mary Cook Associates.
The below Google Street View image shows the current conditions at the property from roughly the same perspective as the first rendering.
619 Grove Street construction site. Image via Google Maps.
Residential amenities at 619 Grove Street will include a rooftop pool, a sky lounge, sundeck with grills and a penthouse bar, coworking space, conference rooms, a fitness center, media and game room, a speakeasy, hydroponic garden, and multiple lounges. Additional features are expected to be announced later.
Mary Cook Associates is the interior designer for the residential component.
The developers have secured joint venture equity from partner PCCP and financing from Kennedy Wilson. Both packages were arranged by the Cushman & Wakefield team led by John Alascio.
The project follows the 2023 completion of a neighboring 165-bed transitional housing facility at 612 Grove Street. This structure was developed in partnership with the Archdiocese of Newark and Catholic Charities to preserve and expand the longstanding St. Lucy’s Homeless Shelter.
Construction is expected to break ground this fall, though an exact date has yet to be announced. An anticipated completion date for 619 Grove Street has also not been revealed.
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Ouch !!! Such painful design imposition on this beautiful church and adjoining structures. Apparently they sold air rights above them, so it’s their own fault. But the new structure really is a blight that engulfs some rare-enough, lovely architecture.
“The Lucy” comes from the 1895 church’s name of “St. Lucy’s.” I am not certain the church was worth preserving under these circumstances. It is a rather tame example of Romanesque Revival and fairly commonplace.
Not mad at it taking into consideration JC’s architecture altogether
Flushing wants a casino built not a church . lol
Our Quaker Meetinghouse dates from 1694 and we certain want that. The Flushing Meadows swamp was not part of the Town of Flushing (1645) which was only on the eastern side of Flushing Creek. The swamp was part of Newtown.
So sexy. Love it.
More like The Lucifer.
I’m glad the 3 historic buildings are being saved. But less than 3% of units being “affordable” isn’t very Kristian.
Yeah, “444 rental units, with 13 reserved as affordable”..that’s embarrassing.
Did you skip “ 165-bed transitional housing facility at 612 Grove Street”? I am pretty sure this was part of the deal. More affordable units mean less supply for regular tax payers
The new/expanded homeless shelter has 165 beds & was purposely planned to be completed before this tower could begin. How many facilities of that size are being newly built in this region? So until they start requiring transitional housing in other buildings, this gets a pass on the smaller affordable component IMO.
Ok, but people in need of a homeless shelter, and those qualifying for so called ‘affordable housing’ are in two different circumstances..
Pretty far from the waterfront.
This looks to be a façadectomy of the church and not just a canterlever over the steeple. The article says that the canterlever hangs over the church but from the renderings it looks like that part of the building sits on church footprint itself. The rendering of the lounge shows that it’s inside the church structure with the arch stained glass windows.
The writers should’ve been better informed or look at the renderings more clearly. The tower is not just simply rising next to the church steeple, the rectory and school buildings, all 3 structures got façadectomy treatment. If you look closely in the first rendering only about 10′ of the front of the historical buildings remain sticking out of the new tower. The rest of those buildings would be removed.
Giant alien mother spacecraft lands next to church.
Lucy in the sky with glass.
The “seamless” relationship between the historic Romanesque Revival church and this
glass box is incredible! Once completed, nobody will ever notice!
What an awful new building! It seems totally incompatible with the church and adjacent historical building facades. The developers are squeezing every square inch out of this site. The new building cantilevers over the church steeple. The Jersey City planning board should force the builder and architect to straighten out this new building, push it back and add some contextual materials to the new building facades. Even if it takes the planning board to allow an additional floor to the new building. Also, the new building should provide at least 10% of the units to be affordable apartments. Why is the City Planning Board approving this building design which is affront to common sense and good esthetics.
Michael Graves died ten years ago. I don’t think he’d approve of this.
We all learn (hopefully) of “Separation of Church and State”.. Maybe there should also be ‘Separation of Church and Real Estate Deals’
This makes “The Torch” seem classy ( I can’t believe l just wrote that)
“Supportive housing” and now “transitional housing”… they are getting creative with euphemism for homeless shelters these days