Family Buys Site for 365-Unit Project in Bustling Jersey City

A Lakewood-based developer will make its Jersey City debut after purchasing a 1.3-acre site in the West Side neighborhood.

A private development group led by Israel Schwartz and his family bought the site at 212-230 Culver Avenue for $12.5 million, according to IPRG, which brokered the transaction. The seller was an estate that owned and operated Acrilex, a plastic fabricator based in Irvington.

The developer plans to build 365 apartments. The 300,000-square-foot project will include 1,600 square feet of retail. The units will mostly be studios and one-bedroom apartments, though there will also be some two-bedrooms with private terraces.

Other features of the development will include a 184-spot parking garage, outdoor terraces and a 400-square-foot space for dogs. Construction is slated to begin later this year.

Two years ago, New York-based DHA Capital submitted plans for a multifamily development on the site, according to Jersey Digs. After DHA failed to find equity investors, however, the Schwartzs stepped in.

The family’s private development group paid in cash, according to IPRG’s Yanni Marmarou.

Issues with the site predate DHA’s botched acquisition of the property. In the summer of 2021, two fires burned through the two-story industrial building at the site, according to WABC. No injuries were reported.

Jersey City has become a hive of development, and its West Side neighborhood has attracted builders despite not having easy access to Manhattan.

Halpern Real Estate Ventures recently built The Birch House, a 337-unit development at 49 Fisk Street. Other projects there include 3 Acres, a 629-unit development at 400 Claremont Avenue; The Agnes, a 213-unit, two-phase development at 132 Yale Avenue; and the NJCU Westside Area developments, which include The Rivet 1 and 2 and the Cityline.

On the western side of Route 440, Bayfront Development is preparing to construct 8,000 residential units, 340,000 square feet of retail, an elementary school and a Jersey City firehouse.

Marmarou’s team has sold four West Side residential development sites and is marketing a 200-unit development site at 299-301 West Side Avenue.

Brooklyn-based Bushburg planned a 3,079-unit luxury development in the neighborhood, but it stalled for lack of a formal agreement with NJ Transit regarding right-of-way to expand the light rail system. Bushburg filed a lawsuit against Jersey City’s planning board last year.