Downtown JC is the wealthiest part of Jersey City. It has the best transit access and walkability, and it's where demand for housing is highest—affordable housing for low-income families and market-rate housing alike. At the same time, Jersey City public schools are at 95% of capacity, and the state agency tasked with building new schools has no plans to create new schools in Jersey City. It is also a neighborhood that could use more public open space. Jersey City's budget is stretched thin with huge tax hikes in recent years, minimizing our ability to achieve these goals using city government alone.

150 Bay Street is an opportunity to meet all of the goals above, while minimizing taxpayer expenses. It would create between 120 and 150 apartments affordable for families with very low, low, and moderate incomes. It would also create about 100 subsidized apartments affordable to working artists. In addition, it would bring a 114,000 square-foot public elementary school space to Jersey City, with 34 classrooms and a gym. An open space plaza is also part of the plan.

The public school and affordable housing would benefit the entirety of Jersey City, but opponents in surrounding condo towers are opposing the building based on narrow interests and misleading talking points. While this project includes a 50-story tower, it would be less dense and smaller in scale than the affordable housing plan recently implemented in Journal Square, by a factor of several times. The majority of the nearly full-block site would be preserved with the historic A&P Warehouse; this plan guarantees that no towers would be built upon the warehouse and its historic fabric would be kept fully intact. 150 Bay Street is contextual development in a neighborhood with several 50 to 60-story towers already. It is also a perfect example of Transit Oriented Development--it is two blocks from PATH, and would produce almost no greenhouse emissions or traffic because residents would live car-free. This is the perfect place for density and smart growth. While there is more than an acre public open space with trees and seating across the corner from 150 Bay St at the new Provost Street pedestrian plaza, this project would add an additional half acre of open space. Approval of the project can be conditioned on any needed infrastructure improvements to utilities, roads, and sidewalks.

We don't feel that it's right for a handful of wealthy residents in the richest part of town to gatekeep affordable housing or a new public elementary school that benefits the entire city. We urge you to support this project that would bring much needed benefits and mixed-income housing to our community!

To learn more about the project, you can read these slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1wztaS4BMbkG2ztAv2DDbfBb-PlLmUM1-IPIPGLTf3BY/edit?slide=id.g35ec109e79f_0_1#slide=id.g35ec109e79f_0_1