[hunser]

http://www.northjersey.com/news/busi...n-nj-1.1228350


Proposed Jersey City condo tower would be tallest building in N.J.

January 20, 2015
By KATHLEEN LYNN

A developer plans to construct a 760-unit condo building in Jersey City that, at 95 stories, would be the tallest structure in New Jersey, Mayor Steven Fulop said Tuesday

The building would be constructed at 99 Hudson St., a block from the Hudson River, by China Overseas America Inc. At 950 feet, it would be taller than the current tallest building in New Jersey, the 781-foot Goldman Sachs building at 30 Hudson Street in Jersey City.

"Our plan here is to continue building a world-class skyline and to continue leading the region in job creation with projects like this, and we couldn't be more excited to attract hundreds of millions of dollars of investment into the city," Fulop said in a statement.

Jersey City is in the middle of a building boom, with the highest number of homebuilding permits of any municipality in the state last year. Through November, the city had 1,320 building permits, out of a total statewide of 25,451, according to the state Department of Labor. Building permits are considered the best measure of housing construction on the state and local level, because the federal government doesn't measure housing starts by state and municipality.

According to Fulop, the state is on track to become the largest city in New Jersey - passing Newark - in 2016.

The last large condo project in Jersey City was Crystal Point, a waterfront development that opened in 2009. Most of the recent multi-family development in Jersey City, and the rest of the state, has been rental. Demand for rentals has been on the rise since the housing crash and recession, as many households were unable to qualify for mortgages and others held off on buying after seeing housing values plunge during the crash.

The new proposal in Jersey City may signal that the market is shifting, with more demand for condos.

The Jersey City planning board is expected to vote on the 99 Hudson St. plan this evening. If the project is approved by the planning board and city council, construction is expected to begin this spring.

Maybe with the crown this could be a supertall.