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Tomorrow's Sunday NYTimes (I get parts of that paper on Saturday because I subscribe) will have an article in the Real Estate section concerning Jersey City. It describes a 250,000 HUD dollar grant realized by the Obama for urban revitatilization. The grant will allow Jersey City to destroy the Montgomery Gardens Housing Projects and replace them with mixed income housing developments. (Note: The article mentioned that next to the projects is the Jersey City medical centers former Art Deco Towers have been revitalized into upscale housing).
OK. It was an interesting article. However, I feel that more information could have been provided. That leaves me with the following questions...
1. where exactly are these Montgomery Gardens Projects? Which neighborhood?
2. It mentions that these projects are socially ill. But then, the article mentions the next door upscale apartments. What is the social situation, demographics and current economic situation like in the surrounding community? Is it an area on the up, down, etc.?
3. How long will it take to finally remove the towers and install the new residences?
What I am trying to figure out is what really is going to happen to this community after the projects are gone. Will the community become healthy for many different income levels or will it gentrify like down by the waterfront?
Tomorrow's Sunday NYTimes (I get parts of that paper on Saturday because I subscribe) will have an article in the Real Estate section concerning Jersey City. It describes a 250,000 HUD dollar grant realized by the Obama for urban revitatilization. The grant will allow Jersey City to destroy the Montgomery Gardens Housing Projects and replace them with mixed income housing developments. (Note: The article mentioned that next to the projects is the Jersey City medical centers former Art Deco Towers have been revitalized into upscale housing).
OK. It was an interesting article. However, I feel that more information could have been provided. That leaves me with the following questions...
1. where exactly are these Montgomery Gardens Projects? Which neighborhood?
2. It mentions that these projects are socially ill. But then, the article mentions the next door upscale apartments. What is the social situation, demographics and current economic situation like in the surrounding community? Is it an area on the up, down, etc.?
3. How long will it take to finally remove the towers and install the new residences?
What I am trying to figure out is what really is going to happen to this community after the projects are gone. Will the community become healthy for many different income levels or will it gentrify like down by the waterfront?
1. On Montgomery Street just West of I-78 near the Beacon towers in the Bergen/Layette section of Jersey City.
2. There a huge blight for the area , suppressing the Urban Renewal in the surrounding areas and the criminal element tends to be higher around the projects as opposed to a few blocks away.... The Upscale apartment people stay indoors and use shuttles to get to and form the Transit stations....hopefully this will change in the near future. That part of Jersey City is just starting to pick up on Historic Downtowns Urban Renewal , so is Journal SQ. Its still a long way form being like Jersey City Heights or Historic Downtown but its on the right path. In my opinion the Art Deco apartments are a blight on the skyline current and future......its a shame they weren't torn down....
3. Probably 1 year form Demolish to rebuilding / Opening depending on how prepared the site is now.
Tomorrow's Sunday NYTimes (I get parts of that paper on Saturday because I subscribe) will have an article in the Real Estate section concerning Jersey City. It describes a 250,000 HUD dollar grant realized by the Obama for urban revitatilization. The grant will allow Jersey City to destroy the Montgomery Gardens Housing Projects and replace them with mixed income housing developments. (Note: The article mentioned that next to the projects is the Jersey City medical centers former Art Deco Towers have been revitalized into upscale housing).
OK. It was an interesting article. However, I feel that more information could have been provided. That leaves me with the following questions...
1. where exactly are these Montgomery Gardens Projects? Which neighborhood?
2. It mentions that these projects are socially ill. But then, the article mentions the next door upscale apartments. What is the social situation, demographics and current economic situation like in the surrounding community? Is it an area on the up, down, etc.?
3. How long will it take to finally remove the towers and install the new residences?
What I am trying to figure out is what really is going to happen to this community after the projects are gone. Will the community become healthy for many different income levels or will it gentrify like down by the waterfront?
1. Montgomery Gardens are right on Montgomery ave, which connects Bergen/Lafayette and downtown.
2. The current state of that area is quite frankly mixed. They are those who live under the poverty line and some who are living with a decent middle-class income. Though the the section reflects more of the poverty than it does the mixed demographic along with racial ethnicity, which is one reason why i like the area IMO.
3. that may depend on what the financial state of the company is, may take a year, may take two. Some Montgomery residents are already being relocated slowly, though i don't know how much or at what stage their in.
The idea is that the area will become healthy once this takes place, but i quite frankly think not. The article states at the end:
“But not all neighborhoods have yet been able to share in this city’s renewal,” Mr. Donovan said on his visit last month. At Montgomery Gardens, he said, “fully a third of residents live below the poverty line, disconnected from opportunity only a few miles away.”
The way i see it is this development will just price everyone out and most likely turn into just like what downtown is. Won't bring much opportunity if not many can afford it, there those that struggle to already live there and it is cheaper than most of the city. The other issue i have is the projects are a known crime haven and knocking them down would only expand the crime into different area and not just a central location. Not everyone in the projects are criminals, but many people who associate with crime head to the projects even from outside the neighborhood. So they essentially spread out to other spots.
I'd say that the Montgomery Projects are in the McGinley Square neighborhood, which is just south of Journal Square. The Bergen-Lafayette neighborhood is south and east of Montgomery Gardens/the Beacon.
The neighborhood kind of sucks. Very sketchy. It's going to take a lot to rejuvenate that area, but the Beacon, and the demolition of the projects, will certainly help matters.
From what I understand, they are going to build "low-density housing" to replace the Montgomery projects. Now, I'm not an expert on gentrification and development, but I've witnessed the gentrification of Downtown JC first hand. The typical "gentrifying types" generally are not attracted to "low density housing" (whatever that even really means). The types of people that gentrify a neighborhood (professional people with a decent income) are typically attracted to either high rise condo buildings with good amenities, or old rowhouse/brownstone types of buildings. Neither of which I'd consider "low density".
So the short answer is, I really don't see that area being TRULY genfrified within the next 20 years. I just don't see it happening. I hope it does, though...or at least I hope the crime drops.
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This is very good news...
