📍 417 Communipaw Ave — Yellow Outline
After years of stalled plans for this inactive site, we're advancing a new, more achievable mixed-use development that will complement, not redefine, the community. This new vision can only be achieved with your input to shape what comes next.
📍 417 Communipaw Ave — Yellow Outline
A 5–6 story mixed-use building that fits the neighborhood, serves the community, and will activate a corner that has been vacant for far too long. This proposal is a starting point that will evolve to reflect community feedback and city review.
A 5–6 story mixed-use concept thoughtfully designed to align with the surrounding neighborhood scale.
Approximately 380 apartments, including a range of unit types and a meaningful affordable component.
Potential for community-serving ground-floor retail (e.g., grocery, pharmacy, local services), shaped by neighborhood input.
Complete brownfield remediation of the former industrial site is already well underway. This is a critical step toward transforming a long-vacant, inactive site for productive use.
Improved pedestrian connections between Communipaw Avenue and Berry Lane Park, including wider sidewalks, on-street parking, enhanced green space and newly planted trees.
Ongoing community meetings including charrettes hosted by Council President Ridley, the Morris Canal Redevelopment CDC, and City Planning Staff.
Current proposal looking North on Communipaw Avenue
Despite initial approvals, the previous plan stalled before construction began.
| Category | Prior Proposal | Our Proposal |
|---|---|---|
| Height | 17–18 stories / 190 ft Fought by the community |
5–6 stories in context with neighborhood |
| Units | 420 residential units | ~380 residential units |
| Affordability | 5% affordable Criticized |
10% affordable Doubled |
| Ground Floor | Retail incubator / market hall Promised, never built |
Retail / Grocer / Market / community-serving use Actively soliciting tenants now |
| Community Center | 22,000 sq ft rec center Promised, never built |
Not included — an honest plan over an undeliverable promise |
| Site Remediation | Planned but never executed | Full brownfield cleanup — already underway |
| Litigation | Two separate lawsuits, years of delay | Shaped by community input to avoid repeating past disputes |
| Developer Track Record | Previous developer could not raise financing to build | The NRP Group — capitalized, active, with completed projects in Jersey City |
Here are the facts.
The community fought in court to block it.
"Morris Canal group again files suit to stop 17-story project on Communipaw Ave." — Hudson County View (May 9, 2022) 🔗 Read article
The prior developer spent years searching for a financial partner to fund the project and was unsuccessful. A highly qualified local broker then marketed the approved plans to additional potential investors and found no interest, confirming that the project simply does not pencil out.
The JCRA spent over 10 years deciding whether or not to incorporate the site into Berry Lane Park. They even considered eminent domain but formally decided against it due to the costs of both the property and the environmental cleanup that would have fallen on the responsibility of the Jersey City taxpayers.
We have a successful track record of investing in Jersey City with two apartment communities we currently own and operate.
Sawyer — a pet-friendly apartment community in Jersey City, NJ
Oliver on the Hudson — Port Liberte, Jersey City, NJ
The NRP Group is a nationally recognized developer, owner, builder, and manager of multifamily housing, with more than 30 years of experience delivering communities across the U.S.
We've developed over 68,000 apartment homes since 1994 and currently manage more than 33,000 residential units nationwide. NRP has a strong track record delivering mixed-income communities in urban environments including Jersey City.
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