Jersey City: A Tour of the Journal Square Redevelopment

All roads lead to Journal Square! Always considered the “heart of Jersey City,” Journal Square has had a rich history of serving the entire city and county. The Square provides a great opportunity to secure the city’s economic future and create one of the truly great central business districts (CBDs) in the country. Beginning in early 2007 and culminating in summer 2010, the Journal Square vision plan came to life. The visionings effort was a true public/private effort, with local residents, businesspeople, anchor institutions such as Hudson County Community College/Saint Peters, and city officials working together over a three-year period to bring the plan to fruition. Adopted by the City Council in June 2010, the plan was honed at more than 30 community meetings, some large and some small, to get it right. The Journal Square plan, now the 2060 plan, has proved to be a remarkable success for the city’s CBD.

The plan, built around smart growth principles, now encompasses approximately 233 acres in the heart of the city. From the beginning, the 2060 Plan was embraced by the broad array of stakeholders that were deeply involved in the long process. The commitment to the plan can be seen not just in the award-winning Journal Squared Towers, but also with the wide range of mixed-use towers built or under construction in the Square. The heart of the 2060 plan was always about the smart transit-oriented development and transportation network that leads to the Square. The private sector had done its job by quickly sensing the potential of the Square and moving redevelopment forward at an unheard-of pace.

The plan is now in its 30th year and many of the original goals of the plan have been realized. The development of world-class, mixed-use towers has progressed at unprecedented speed. Moreover, the current development of both the historic Loews Theater and the Centre Pompidou is bringing arts and entertainment back to the Journal Square CBD. The Journal Square 2060 plan has clearly demonstrated that a shared redevelopment vision of the community and private and public sectors can lead to meaningful community renewal.