To designate developers for housing on King Drive

Originally appeared in the Jersey Journal on Tuesday, November 21, 2006

The Jersey City Redevelopment Agency is scheduled to designate developers today for three housing developments on Martin Luther King Drive, city officials said yesterday.

Collectively, the three projects will create 238 units of low-, moderate-, and market-rate housing and help build the customer base to support the nearby Hub shopping center, said JCRA Executive Director Robert Antonicello.

The bulk of the housing will be near the King Drive light rail station at Virginia Avenue.

The biggest project will have 166 condominium units on a 2.4-acre site bordered by King Drive and Orient, Rose, and Kearney avenues.

For 10 years, the site was earmarked for the Thomas Jackson Estates, a proposal to build 24 two-family homes. But the Joint Venture Partnership contracted to develop the area was found in default earlier this year.

The members of the new partnership are the JCRA, the Neighborhood Development Corp. and Philadelphia-based builders, Universal Companies and Brandywine Construction & Development Services.

The JCRA also plans to name local builder Ed Folkes the developer for three mixed-used houses and two two-family homes at 311-315 King Drive, Antonicello said.

The Jersey City-based Community Outreach Team, led by the Rev. Kevin E. Knight, is expected to be designated the developer for a 67-unit senior building at 15-21 King Drive.

KEN THORBOURNE