Newport residents will probably see a new 40-story building rising in their neighborhood next year.

The Planning Board at their Nov. 30 meeting approved the preliminary and final site plan for a 790-unit residential/retail structure to be built at 700 Washington Blvd., across the street from the Target Department Store.

The Newport section of Jersey City is located on the waterfront near the Hoboken border. The project will be built in the last undeveloped portion of Newport, called the “northeast quadrant.” The land is currently occupied by construction equipment.
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“This is a post-modern structure that is surprisingly good, almost too good to be true,” Yost said.
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Charles Harrington, the attorney representing the applicants for the project, Newport Development Associates Company, a subsidiary of the Lefrak Organization (the developers of the Newport residential community), said the project includes 15,000 square feet of retail and 876 parking spaces – 794 garage spots and 82 on the street.

The significance of the project, Harrington said, is it will be the first project underway in the northeast quadrant. Harrington said the project will take 18 to 20 months to complete but no definitive date has been set for the start of construction other than “sometime next year” He also could not provide a price tag for the project, currently unnamed. The developer is considering designating it a rental building.

‘Surprisingly good’ buildings

Leon Yost, senior commissioner on the Planning Board, said the project is really two towers and that he was “pleasantly surprised” by the architecture, which he credits to the design of the Toronto-based architecture firm Page and Steele. Yost said that the firm had designed another Newport building called the Aquablu that is located near this new project.

“This is a post-modern structure that is surprisingly good, almost too good to be true,” Yost said.

He was also surprised that the developer had not publicized the project more, as it was the first time he had seen any presentation on the project. Yost said the rest of the Planning Board also praised the project.

Yost also said he believed that the project was pushed by the developer to get approval so that it would be constructed before the proposed Spectra natural gas pipeline is ever built through that area to Lower Manhattan, and not be subject to delay from the pipeline construction.

The Lefrak Organization is among many groups in the city opposed to the pipeline.

Yost also pointed out that the building will close to the waterfront and to the Hoboken-Jersey City border, to allow future residents to gain access to the pedestrian bridge linking the two towns.

Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com.