18 Park in Jersey City, NJ
KRE Group and Ironstate Development’s Iconic Jersey City Project Praised as a Landmark Multi-Use Building, Anchor of Emerging Community
Development partners Kushner Real Estate Group (KRE) and Ironstate Development Company have received a 2015 “Smart Growth” award for creating an iconic, mixed-use development in an emerging neighborhood in downtown Jersey City.
New Jersey Future, a non-profit organization that promotes responsible land-use policies, named KRE/Ironstate’s 18 Park building one of the recipients of its prestigious annual award, noting that it was designed to be the “community anchor” of an 80-acre redevelopment area in Jersey City’s Liberty Harbor North neighborhood.
18 Park is a 422-unit rental building with upscale amenities and services, but it is also home to a variety of community organizations. The Boys & Girls Clubs of Hudson County occupied brand new, state-of-the-art facilities at 18 Park in 2014 after relocating from a severely outdated building nearby. The Great Futures Charter High School for Health Sciences also calls 18 Park home, as does a teen technology center that includes music recording and graphic arts equipment. The building also includes street level retail that contributes to the vibrancy and pedestrian-friendly character of the neighborhood, making it feel like a true “center” of the community.
“The broad combination of community uses, plus the retail space, the 415 apartments above the community facilities and the seven townhomes along the south side of the building all work together to generate a wide range of activity at various hours of the day and evening, giving the building the true feel of a community center,” the award announcement from NJ Future reads. “As Liberty Harbor North continues to develop, 18 Park’s role as a community center will only continue to grow.”
18 Park was designed from the beginning of the project with the goal of both resident enjoyment and community engagement in mind. The Boys & Girls Clubs of Hudson County facilities are independently accessed and include a spectacular gymnasium with a floor-to-ceiling wall as part of the club’s programmed space. Parking is concealed on the interior of the building and a Hudson-Bergen Light Rail stop is right on the corner, allowing for a fully-engaged streetscape that encourages mass-transit usage and community interaction.
“We set out to create a dynamic, lifestyle-oriented property for our residents that would be not only a centerpiece of the Liberty Harbor North neighborhood, but also one of the most exciting rental offerings in all of Jersey City,” said Jonathan Kushner, President of The KRE Group. “Including usable community space for The Boys & Girls Clubs of Hudson County and other organizations was incredibly important to us too. The fact that we were able to accomplish both goals so seamlessly is a testament to our design team, our construction team and the Jersey City community as a whole.”
18 Park is one of seven Smart Growth Award recipients selected this year by New Jersey Future. Since 2002, the organization has honored more than 95 projects selected by an independent jury of professional developers, architects, planners and redevelopment experts.
KRE and Ironstate both have a history of successful development in Jersey City and currently have additional residential properties under construction in the city. The developers previously teamed up to develop and lease 225 Grand, just one block away from 18 Park. KRE is currently building Journal Squared, a collection of three residential towers in Jersey City’s historic Journal Square neighborhood that will ultimately comprise 1,838 rental residences and 36,000 square feet of retail space. Ironstate is constructing 70 Columbus, a 50-story tower with 543 luxury rental residences in downtown Jersey City, and URL® Harborside, a collection of three towers overlooking the Manhattan skyline that will ultimately deliver 2,358 residences to the city’s Harborside Financial Center neighborhood.
For more information on KRE, www.thekregroup.com. For more information on Ironstate, visit www.ironstate.net. For more information on New Jersey Future and the Smart Growth Awards, visit www.njfuture.org.
About Ironstate Development Company
Ironstate Development Company is one of the largest privately held real estate development companies in the Northeast. Based in Hoboken, New Jersey, Ironstate engages in the development and management of large-scale mixed-use projects and has a diverse portfolio of residential and hospitality assets. Additional information on Ironstate Development Company is available on the Company’s website at www.ironstate.net.
IRONSTATE DEVELOPMENT 
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