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The first of two phases at The Journal, a 1,723-unit luxury apartment project in Jersey City’s Journal Square section, is slated to hit the market in July. — Courtesy: Kushner

By Joshua Burd

It was a subtle but key detail in a wide-ranging discussion on The Journal, the project that will bring more than 1,700 apartments to Jersey City’s resurgent Journal Square district, where Kushner is less than two months from delivering the first of two gleaming 64-story towers.

Michael Sommer, the firm’s chief development officer, said renters have already signed nearly 200 leases during a preleasing phase that began just a few weeks ago.

“The proof is really in the pudding,” he said last week, before heaping praise on The Marketing Directors, the project’s leasing agent, for helping to spark the early momentum.

It won’t be the last time Sommer is lauding the long list of professionals, public officials and in-house colleagues who are involved in bringing The Journal to fruition. That’s understandable for a nearly $1 billion project that has risen in the confines of a historic urban neighborhood, especially one that endured years of delays before breaking ground in 2022.

The Journal’s initial phase of 966 rentals will hit the market this summer, Kushner executives said Thursday during a fireside chat at The Jersey City Summit, as anticipation builds for a property that will have “ultra luxury,” condo-level finishes and seemingly unprecedented amenities ranging from a cold plunge to a bowling alley. It’s also setting the stage for a ripple effect that will only enhance the momentum around the adjacent Journal Square PATH station, in an area that has welcomed thousands of new residents in recent years amid an ongoing construction boom.

“(It is) really the hole in the circle of the doughnut,” said Nicole Kushner Meyer, Kushner’s president, noting that the connectivity of the PATH and the surrounding community inspired a concept “that envisioned life and energy in the center of Journal Square.”

That will take the form of a nearly one-acre public plaza along John F. Kennedy Boulevard, with green space, seating areas and a schedule of public events, allowing the buildings to blend seamlessly with the neighborhood and the transit hub directly to the north. Residents, meantime, will enjoy a roughly 40,000-square-foot amenity center that will also include indoor basketball and squash courts, high-end spa and fitness facilities, lounges and indoor and outdoor swimming pools, among others.

The Journal will also have a new 40,000-square-foot Target store at the ground floor that figures to be another destination for the community.

“It really was the linchpin that we think Journal Square has been waiting for,” Sommer said during the event at 601W Cos.’ Harborside complex. “It is front and center in the square, directly adjacent to the PATH station. There certainly have been other ambitious projects. This one, I think, takes it to another level.”

Gene Paolino, a partner with Genova Burns LLC and a key land use attorney involved in the project, moderated the fireside chat before many of The Jersey City Summit’s more than 1,200 registered attendees. He recalled the desolate, vacant lot that occupied the site for years before the 2022 groundbreaking, contrasting it with the two majestic high-rises that seemed to go up “in the blink of an eye” once Kushner began construction.

Sommer and Meyer could only smile.

“It did not feel like the blink of an eye,” Sommer quipped. “I can tell you that for sure. In our minds, it’s been hand-to-hand combat all along and since day one. But we have the right team on the job.”

That includes general contractor AJD Construction, which Sommer praised on multiple occasions, as well as Kushner’s in-house capital markets unit that helped secure financing for the project. The firm can now enjoy the satisfaction of the nearly completed first tower, with the second soon to follow, as well as what’s still to come in Journal Square.

Paolino, for instance, pointed to a neighboring property that Kushner owns at 30 Journal Square, which it hopes to develop as a sort of sister building or third phase of The Journal, Sommer said. The company is “deep into design at this point,” he added, noting that “we’re looking forward to bringing that forward to the city and the (Jersey City Redevelopment Agency) in the near future and effectuating that development as soon as possible.”

“I think the way that we’re looking at designing and developing (30 Journal) right now is we want the best complement what we have today,” Meyer said, which is a unit mix at The Journal of mostly studios and one-bedrooms, with some two- and three-bedroom floorplans.

“We’re looking at it as synergistic,” she said. “And obviously we want to incorporate the plazas and the outdoor space together so that we’re thinking about it not just as another building on the square, but something that is creating more of a fabric for the way people live and breathe within the spaces and really creating a different offering — very hospitality-driven.”

Berkadia announced that it has secured a $35.75 million loan to refinance 829 Garfield, a 110-unit multifamily property with ground-floor retail in Jersey City.

Director Michael Basinski, along with Senior Managing Director Mitch Sinberg, Managing Directors Scott Wadler, Brad Williamson and Matt Robbins of Berkadia Miami and Boca Raton, secured the financing on behalf of the sponsor, Tay Investments, a private equity real estate firm led by Yuval Shram with investments in North America and Europe.

Berkadia originated the Fannie Mae-secured fixed-rate loan with a five-year term.

“The agencies remain committed to supporting high-quality developments that align with their mission of providing liquidity for affordable workforce housing,” said Basinski. “The sponsor delivered an exceptional property, which enabled us to structure optimal financing.”

Built in 2022 at 829 Garfield Ave., the property is a fully stabilized multifamily community featuring a mix of market-rate and 10% affordable apartments, along with 10,100 square feet of ground-floor commercial space. A daycare center occupies approximately 6,100 square feet.

829 Garfield offers two- and three-bedroom floor plans with stainless steel appliances and quartz countertops in kitchens, radiant heated flooring in the bathrooms, walk-in closets, LED lighting, multizone heating & cooling units, private patios and expansive windows with direct views of New York City in some units.

“We are proud to deliver a high-quality building that not only meets the growing demand for affordable housing but also enhances the neighborhood,” said Shram. “Partnering with the agencies is a testament that you can build a sustainable project at affordable rates and demonstrates our commitment to creating lasting value for residents.”

829 Garfield is centrally located in the heart of Bergen-Lafayette, a half block from the Garfield Avenue Light Rail Station, a quick bike ride to Liberty State Park and just minutes from express transportation directly into New York City. The property is situated near the area’s key demand drivers, including the Liberty Science Center, Liberty National Golf Club, Ellis Island Immigration Museum, Downtown Jersey City and New York City, along with Newark International Airport.

Weekend talks between New Jersey Transit and the engineers' union proved successful: a tentative agreement has been reached, signally an end to the first rail strike for the transit system in decades.

The walkout that began Friday was the state’s first transit strike in over 40 years, forcing people who normally rely on New Jersey Transit to take buses, cars, taxis and boats instead or consider staying home. The main sticking point had been how to accomplish a wage increase for the engineers without creating a financially disastrous domino effect for the transit agency.

Regular rail service is expected to resume 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, correcting an earlier announcement that stated trains would move again on Monday.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy's office said service would wait until Tuesday to resume "as it takes approximately 24 hours to inspect and prepare tracks, rail cars and other infrastructure before returning to full scheduled service."

“This agreement reflects the commitment of both the BLET and NJ TRANSIT to remain at the table engaging in productive conversations, and I commend them both. Most importantly, it ensures the resumption of rail service for the 100,000 people who depend on our rail system on a daily basis," Murphy said in a statement.

Neither Murphy nor the engineers' union shared the specific details of the agreement.

“While I won’t get into the exact details of the deal reached, I will say that the only real issue was wages and we were able to reach an agreement that boosts hourly pay beyond the proposal rejected by our members last month and beyond where we were when NJ Transit’s managers walked away from the table Thursday evening,” said Tom Haas, the union's general chairman at NJ Transit.

From Newark to Trenton to Hoboken to Jersey City and all points between, NBC New York covers New Jersey news, weather, traffic and more.

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The statement said the deal would be submitted for a ratification vote by the national union and also require a vote of the New Jersey transit board at its next regularly scheduled meeting June 11.

The walkout preceeded down-to-the-wire negotiations on Thursday that didn't produce an agreement. It triggered the state's first strike in more than 40 years and comes a month after union members overwhelmingly rejected a labor agreement with management.

Union members were nearly unanimous in authorizing a strike last summer, and 87% of them rejected the latest agreement.

Mark Wallace, the union's national president, had said NJ Transit needs to pay engineers a wage that’s comparable to Amtrak and Long Island Railroad because some are leaving for jobs on those other railroads for better pay.

The union had said its members have been earning an average salary of $113,000 a year and it wanted to see an agreement for an average salary of $170,000.

NJ Transit leadership, though, disputed the union’s data, saying the engineers have average total earnings of $135,000 annually, with the highest earners exceeding $200,000.

The union has seen steady attrition in its ranks at NJ Transit as more members leave to take better-paying jobs at other railroads. The number of NJ Transit engineers has shrunk from 500 several months ago to about 400. The engineers are responsible for operating trains, ensuring safe and smooth transport between stations.

NJ Transit is the nation’s third-largest transit system and operates buses and rail in the state, providing nearly 1 million weekday trips, including into New York City. The walkout halts all NJ Transit commuter trains, which provide heavily used public transit routes between Penn Station on one side of the Hudson River and communities in northern New Jersey on the other, as well as the Newark airport, which has grappled with unrelated delays of its own recently.

While the trains are suspended, commuters still have a few options when it comes to getting around New Jersey. NBC New York's Adelle Caballero reports.

Hundreds of thousands of New Jersey commuters may be caught up in the state’s first transit strike in more than 40 years as soon as Friday morning.

The engineers who drive New Jersey Transit’s commuter trains have threatened to walk out after midnight Thursday if the union that represents them cannot reach an agreement with the agency on a contract that has been under negotiation for many months.

Union officials met with NJ Transit executives for several hours on Wednesday and were scheduled to resume negotiating on Thursday. Kris Kolluri, the transit agency’s chief executive, described the talks this week as “constructive.” But it was not clear how close the sides were to averting a shutdown of the rail system.

The engineers have said they are seeking parity in pay with engineers at other commuter railroads in the area. The transit agency’s chief executive, Kris Kolluri, has repeatedly said that it cannot afford the pay increases the union is demanding.

The two sides met with the National Mediation Board in Washington on Monday in a last-ditch effort to resolve their differences. Mr. Kolluri said the discussion was “constructive” and that he looked forward to continuing negotiations in good faith.

In the meantime, New Jersey Transit has drawn up a contingency plan. But Mr. Kolluri said that the additional buses it would offer as a substitute in the event of a strike could handle only about 20 percent of the daily train riders.

The agency has asked commuters to make plans to work from home if their presence in the workplace is not essential. Mr. Kolluri has said a strike could last for weeks.

Among the first casualties of the looming strike were the trains and buses NJ Transit had planned to provide for access to Shakira’s concerts on Thursday and Friday nights at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.

The agency canceled that service, for now. A lingering strike could jeopardize transit service to Beyoncé’s five concerts over the following two weeks.

How likely is a strike?

Most threatened transit strikes, like the last one in New Jersey nine years ago, do not materialize.

But the tone of these negotiations has grown harsher as the strike deadline has neared.

Last week, Mr. Kolluri questioned the “mental health” of Thomas Haas, the general chairman of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, after the union’s members overwhelmingly rejected a previous agreement.

Mr. Kolluri and union officials shook hands on a deal that appeared to bridge the impasse more than a month ago. But the union engineers voted it down and sent their negotiator back to the bargaining table.

Mr. Kolluri has refused to increase New Jersey Transit’s offer, saying that any extra pay offered to the engineers would have to be paid to all 14 of the agency’s other unions.

“This is the deal that was offered, that he shook my hands on, that he negotiated, and now he has to live with his consequences,” Mr. Kolluri said.

Mark Wallace, the national president of the engineers’ union, said that Mr. Kolluri was not interested in reaching a deal. “He’s trying to vilify us with the citizens of New Jersey,” Mr. Wallace said.

What are the issues to be resolved?

In most labor negotiations, the two sides disagree on a number of work rules, such as schedules and staffing levels. But this dispute is now just about money.

Mr. Haas said last week that the union had agreed to 95 percent of New Jersey Transit’s demands.

“The only sticking point we have are wages,” he said. “Every other part of this contract is resolved.”

But the gap between the union’s pay demands and what the agency is offering is very wide.

Mr. Kolluri said the offer the union voted down in March would have raised the average annual pay of full-time engineers to $172,000 from $135,000. But Mr. Haas said those figures were inflated. The union, he said, would happily accept a contract that raised engineers’ annual pay to $172,000.

In essence, New Jersey Transit insists that the 450 engineers represented by the union accept the same contract terms that all of the agency’s other unions accepted. Just last week, the agency announced a contract deal with its biggest union, which represents 5,500 employees of its bus network.

But the engineers say they should be paid on a par with the drivers of trains at the region’s other commuter railroads, including the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad. They say those railroads pay their engineers about $10 an hour more than New Jersey Transit pays.

What will happen if there is a strike?

Most commuters do not remember the last transit strike in New Jersey, which happened in 1983 and lasted about three weeks. Another strike loomed in 2016 but was averted a day before it would have begun.

But the contingency plan New Jersey Transit has created is similar to the one used 42 years ago. It involves chartered buses running from four satellite lots around the state to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan or to stations of the PATH train in North Jersey, starting on May 19. There would be no chartered buses on the first day of the strike.

Each bus carries about 100 passengers, compared with as many as 1,000 on a full train, Mr. Kolluri said. The buses will accommodate only about 20 percent of the 70,000 commuters who take trains into the city, he said.

Some displaced commuters are likely to try to switch to existing bus routes operated by New Jersey Transit and private carriers. Others are likely to drive at least part of the way to the city, adding traffic to already congested roads, transportation experts said.

“If the strike does happen, even with a contingency plan in place, this is going to be incredibly disruptive to the region,” said Zoe Baldwin, vice president for state programs at the Regional Plan Association. “No matter what mode you’re on, you’re going to have a more difficult commute than usual.”

There’s a new contender for the best pint of Guinness in Hudson County. Irish pub DAGDA is taking over the space at 123 Newark Avenue in Downtown Jersey City, formerly occupied by Cafe Coretto. It’s run by several Jersey City locals who want to make it the next friendly neighborhood hangout spot. One of the owners tells The Hoboken Girl the tentative plan is to open sometime this summer. Here’s what we know so far about the Irish pub, DAGDA, in downtown Jersey City.

The name “Dagda” comes from Celtic mythology. The Dagda was the chief of the Irish ancestral gods. He was associated with several things, including manliness, strength, magic, druidry, and wisdom.

One of the owners, Ben Prior, grew up in Dublin, Ireland, and has always been into Celtic mythology. When he was coming up with the plan for this new spot, he wanted something different from the typical Irish pub names. “I wanted something slightly obscure,” Ben tells HG.

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The Irish pub is a short walk from the Grove Street PATH Station on Newark Avenue. Behind the double doors is a large space with green walls and a large bar. The vision is for the pub is for an upscale neighborhood dive bar, with a pool table, darts, and some live music. There will be a small kitchen serving some small bites. It can’t be an Irish pub without some Irish beers, and the owners aim to serve the next best pint of Guinness in Jersey City.

There are other little authentic touches of Ireland in the pub. For instance, there’s a snug at the end of the bar. It’s a semi-private space with a little table and booth seating. If you’ve ever been to a Catholic church for confession, it looks very similar to a confessional. The term, “snug,” was coined in the 1960s in Ireland. Many pubs back then were almost exclusively for men, and women were rarely seen drinking inside. It wasn’t a law, but more of a social convention that bars wouldn’t let women inside. Women would either drink at home or enjoy a pint in a small, screened-off room attached to the bar known as a snug. At DAGDA, all those who are of legal drinking age are welcome to drink inside, whether it’s in the snug or at the bar.

“We want to blend a good, solid, warm, wooden, Irish bar with a neighborhood dive feel,” Ben tells HG.

Ben has been a Hudson County resident for about 17 years. Hoboken locals might recognize him from slinging drinks at Wilton House on 58 Newark Street. He tells HG that when the opportunity arose to open his own bar in Jersey City, he took it. Ben plans to continue bartending at Wilton House until things are up and running at DAGDA.

Previously, Cafe Coretto was at 123 Newark Avenue. It was an event space that did comedy shows, jazz nights, and other private events. It was run by Italian restaurant Roman Nose, which is right next door at 125 Newark Avenue.

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