Journal Square

Journal Square is a business district, residential area, and transportation hub in Jersey City, New Jersey, which takes its name from the newspaper Jersey Journal whose headquarters were located there from 1911 to 2013.[1] The "square" itself is at the intersection of Kennedy Boulevard and Bergen Avenue. The broader area extends to and includes Bergen Square, McGinley Square, India Square, the Five Corners and parts of the Marion Section.[2] Many local, state, and federal agencies serving Hudson County maintain offices in the district.

The Labor Bank Building at 26 Journal Square was the city's first skyscraper.

History
The Square was named for the Jersey Journal.

Prior to its development as a commercial district Journal Square was the site of many farmhouses and manors belonging to descendants of the original settlers of Bergen, the first chartered municipality in the state settled in 1660 and located just south at Bergen Square. In conjunction with the 1912 opening of the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad Summit Avenue station many of those properties were demolished to make way for modern buildings, including the still standing Labor Bank Building and the Public Service building. The Newkirk House[3] and Van Wagenen House remain, while the still-intact Sip Manor was moved to Westfield, New Jersey.[4] The square was created in 1923 when the city condemned and demolished the offices of the Jersey Journal, thus creating a broad intersection with Hudson Boulevard which itself had been widened in 1908. The newspaper built new headquarters and the new square was named in its honor.[5]

Hudson County Boulevard Bridge

The bridge carrying the boulevard was designed by consulting engineer Abraham Burton Cohen and completed in 1926.[6] For most of the twentieth century Journal Square was the cultural entertainment center of Hudson County,[7] home to the movie palaces built in the 1920s: The State (1922, and since demolished),[8] the Stanley Theater (1928),[9] and the Loew's Jersey Theater (1929).[10] Karen Angel of The New York Daily News described Journal Square from the 1920s to the 1960s as a "crown jewel, a glowing commercial, entertainment and transportation hub of the city."[11] The "Jersey Bounce", a hit song in the 1940s mentions Journal Square in its lyrics as the place where it got started. Two days before Election Day in 1960 John F. Kennedy made his last campaign speech at Journal Square, before returning to New England.[12] Hudson Boulevard was named Kennedy Boulevard soon after his assassination. The Tube Bar, so-called for the Hudson Tubes (as the fore-runner of the PATH system was called) was made famous by Louis "Red" Deutsch getting prank calls there.[13]

Journal Square at dusk
India Square on Newark Avenue

The Journal Square Transportation Center, opened between 1973 and 1975,[14] includes the Journal Square PATH and bus station.[15] and is headquarters of the PATH. It is built on an elevated bridge structure above the Bergen Hill Cut, an 1834 railroad cut once used by Pennsylvania Railroad main line and Jersey City Branch and now by the PATH rapid transit system and an occasional freight train. In front of the station is a statue of Jackie Robinson who in 1946 crossed the baseball color line at Roosevelt Stadium.[16]

A statue of Christopher Columbus, the work of Jersey City native Archimedes Giacomontonio, has been located on the square since 1950.[17] The Stanley and the Loew's have both been restored, the first now an Assembly Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses,[9] the latter used as a moviehouse and for other cultural events.[10]

The campus of Hudson County Community College is a collection of buildings throughout the district around the square.[18] A few blocks to the south near McGinley Square, are Saint Peter's University, Hudson Catholic Regional High School, and the Jersey City Armory. A concentration of Overseas Filipino and Indian American-operated shops[19] can be found along Newark Avenue and near India Square to the north.

Northeast of Journal Square is Five Corners, the county seat of Hudson County. The Hudson County Courthouse, located at 583 Newark Avenue 40°43′55″N 74°3′25″W, and the adjacent Hudson County Administration Building, at 595 Newark Avenue, are home to the county's courts and a number of county agencies and departments. The Five Corners Branch of the Jersey City Public Library is sited on the intersection itself, while William L. Dickinson High School is located nearby at 2 Palisade Avenue.

High-rise development
Aerial view looking northwest to Journal Square

Many of the buildings in Journal Square include housing stock (such as brownstones, pre-war apartment buildings, and Frame houses), convenience stores, bodegas, and downscale franchises, that Jerremiah Healy, Mayor of Jersey City, has been referred to as "ugly old eyesores."[11] The redevelopment of Journal Square has attracted the interest of urban planners, architects, sociologists, and others, many who view its historical, current, and future use as an important indicator of the contemporary understanding of how cities function.[7][20][21][22][23]

A proposed development by Kushner Real Estate Group and National Real Estate Advisors, Journal Squared, is planned as a 2.3 million square foot, 3-tower residential complex. The first phase, a 53-story tower, opened in early 2017.[24] It sits directly adjacent to the Journal Square PATH station as a continuation of the dense transit-oriented development that has arisen further to the east in Jersey City. The towers were designed by Hollwich Kushner and Handel Architects.

As of 2008, there were proposals to build a complex called 1 Journal Square which would combine rental housing, multi-story retail, and parking. Plans for the mixed-use development call for 68-story and 50-story residential towers above a 7-story retail and parking base with a rooftop terrace.[25][26] While the site has been cleared, construction has not begun.[27] Deadlines to begin construction by 2011 were not met by the developer, Multi-Employer Property Trust.[28]

In October 2011, MEPT purchased Newport Tower on the Hudson waterfront for $377 million, a record price for an office real estate transaction in the state.[29] A further extension to 2013 requested by MEPTA was not granted by the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency.[30]

Jersey City is one of nine municipalities in New Jersey designated as eligible for Urban Transit Hub Tax Credits by the state's Economic Development Authority.[31] Developers who invest a minimum of $50 million within 0.5 miles (0.80 km) of a train station are eligible for pro-rated tax credit.[32][33]

In 2012, the city adopted a variance for a development proposal to build a 42-story residential tower and adjacent garage on the south and east sides of the Newkirk House.[34][35] A 13-story residential building is proposed for a parking platform adjacent to and overlooking the PATH tracks originally developed in 1984.[36][37]

In December 2012 the Jersey Journal sold its building and relocated to Harmon Plaza in nearby Secaucus;[38] however, a large sign with the paper's name was still in place atop the building in the square as of June 2015.[39]

Other mixed-use projects are planned throughout the district.[40]

See also

References
  1. Rose Sibayan, Reena (August 15, 2013). "Jersey Journal to move headquarters to Secaucus in the fall". The Jersey Journal. Retrieved July 30, 2014.
  2. Hudson County New Jersey Street Map. Hagstrom Map Company, Inc. 2008. ISBN 978-0-88097-763-0.
  3. Newkirk House Archived October 4, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  4. "Sip Manor House". Njcu.edu. Retrieved November 1, 2008.
  5. Grundy, J. Owen (1975). ""I am the law.."". The History of Jersey City (1609 - 1976). Jersey City: Walter E. Knight; Progress Printing Company. p. 53.
  6. Cohen, A. Burton. "Hudson County Boulevard Bridge Plaza." Purdue Engineering Review 21, No. 4 (May 1926): 3-6, 22.
  7. Eric M. Friedman, Journal Square and the Old Loew's Theatre: Grassroots Resistance in a City Center, Canon Magazine, 2009
  8. "State Theater". cinematreasures.org.
  9. Stanely Theater
  10. Loew's Jersey
  11. Angel, Karen. "Journal Squared: A Jersey City neighborhood's housing multiplies." The New York Daily News. Friday November 13, 2009. 1. Retrieved on November 13, 2009.
  12. "John F. Kennedy: Remarks of Senator John F. Kennedy, Journal Square, Jersey City, NJ". ucsb.edu.
  13. Weird NJ Vol. 2 Tube Bar Interview Accessed May 12, 2009.
  14. JSQ Trans Ctr history
  15. "Journal Square Transportation Center - The Port Authority of NY & NJ". panynj.gov.
  16. Roosevelt Stadium
  17. Columbus Statue
  18. "Hudson County Community College". hccc.edu.
  19. can be found along Newark Avenue and at India Square."India Square" accessed November 7, 2009 Archived October 15, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  20. JC Museum: (Re)Centering: New Visions for Journal Square
  21. JSQ Redevelopment Plans
  22. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 28, 2011. Retrieved November 18, 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  23. Journal Square 2060 (Report). Jersey City Planning Department. Retrieved May 15, 2011.
  24. "Ribbon Cut for First Tower of Journal Squared in Jersey City – New York YIMBY". www.yimbynews.com. Archived from the original on March 22, 2017. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
  25. Hack, Charles (April 8, 2009). "It's All Up from Here". The Jersey Journal. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
  26. "The New Journal Square". thenewjournalsquare.com.
  27. Hayes, Melissa (July 27, 2010). "Jersey City Planning Board approves Journal Square 2060 Redevelopment Plan". The Jersey Journal. Archived from the original on October 28, 2015. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
  28. McDonald, Terrence T. (March 10, 2012). "Jersey City Signals It Wants Developer of Massive Journal Square Project to Act, or Face Default". The Jersey Journal. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
  29. Edward, Daniel (October 19, 2011). "New Jersey's Biggest Tower Sale… Ever!". Commercial Observer. Retrieved April 24, 2014.
  30. McDonald, Terrence T. (April 26, 2014). "Developer Threatens to Sue Jersey City Agency over Comments Made to The Jersey Journal". The Jersey Journal. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
  31. Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit Program, New Jersey Economic Development Authority. Accessed April 24, 2023. "Urban Transit Hubs are located within ½ mile of New Jersey Transit, PATH, PATCO, or light rail stations in Camden (expanded to one mile), East Orange, Elizabeth, Hoboken, Jersey City, Newark, New Brunswick, Paterson, and Trenton."
  32. "Urban Transit Hub Tax Credits". Financing Programs. New Jersey Economic Development Authority. Archived from the original on April 14, 2012. Retrieved December 28, 2013.
  33. "NEW JERSEY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit Program Approved Projects" (PDF). Urban Transit Hub Tax Credits. New Jersey Economic Development Authority. December 3, 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 30, 2013. Retrieved December 28, 2013.
  34. "Featured News » City Settles Lawsuit with Robinhood Plaza, Permits 42-Story Zoning for Property Along Summit Ave". The Jersey City Independent. November 29, 2012. Archived from the original on November 29, 2012. Retrieved December 31, 2013.
  35. McDonald, Terrence T. (July 23, 2012). "42-story Residential Tower on Tap for Jersey City". The Jersey Journal. Retrieved May 20, 2013.
  36. Ziegler, Nicholass (August 18, 2011). "$78M Journal Square Building in Jersey Sold to Israeli Investors". Commercial Executive. Archived from the original on December 30, 2013. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
  37. McDonald, Terrence T. (December 23, 2013). "13-story Luxury Rental Tower Planned for Journal Square Gets $19.2 Million Tax Break". The Jersey Journal. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
  38. McDonald, Terrence T. (December 5, 2012). "The Jersey Journal finalizing sale of its Journal Square offices in Jersey City". The Jersey Journal. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
  39. Google Street View shot, dated June 2015, of Journal Square, Jersey City, with "Jersey Journal" signage atop a building (near the center of the photo)
  40. "The Journal Square transformation is looking up -- way up". February 10, 2022.
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