Jersey City

Maybe you’re thinking of checking out All Points West this weekend, the inaugural East Coast version of the Coachella Music Festival that starts today and runs through Sunday in a giant, grassy park on the Hudson River waterfront. Sounds pretty good, right? Summer’s drawing to a close, so what could be better than some outdoor revelry and music under the sun to make the most of what’s left of it? And my, what a lineup of super hip indie bands! Radiohead, Cat Power, Grizzly Bear, The Go! Team, Animal Collective, Chromeo, Metric, Girl Talk, CSS, The Roots. It’s like a year’s worth of show reviews on Brooklyn Vegan all crammed into one.  read more »

As contract negotiations continue with Dow Jones, the IAPE union is announcing today that they have unionized the company's Harborside location, located in Jersey City, NJ.

For months, the IAPE has aggressively tried to gain a majority at the Jersey office, (at least according to the New York Post), where roughly 230 Dow Jones employees work.

UPDATE: A Dow Jones source writes in that the Jersey City office is not actually a Wall Street Journal operation, but part of Dow Jones Newswires. The Observer regrets the error.

--Michael Calderone Full memo after the jump  read more »

More news on that Jersey EMI lease. It looks like EMI will be taking the entire 15th floor, for 35,000 square feet, at Plaza 10 in Jersey City, a source said. The Observer reported the news first last week.

Poor EMI. The company is buckling so much that Warner Music wants to chat about a takeover again.

And now EMI is the first big name in entertainment to buckle and fall to the Jersey waterfront.

- John Koblin

Macklowe Properties paid $1.73 billion for Worldwide Plaza at 825 Eighth Avenue, the second-largest  read more »

The proposal to build apartments on the Albee Square Mall site in downtown Brooklyn, which came before a city board on Tuesday morning, represents the victory of market realities over urban-planning dreams.  read more »

On a Wednesday in December, a young black man sat glum and quiet in a courtroom in Jersey City.  read more »

• Donald Trump Jr. went on a murderous rampage, slaughtering the cruel members of the Trump Plaza condominium (who recently kicked him off the board there). He then buried the skeletal remains at 246 Spring Street, the site of the new Trump International Hotel & Tower Soho. Not really, though. [The Real Deal]
• After work-stop orders and leaked files, plans for the quadruple "Edge" towers in Williamsburg reveal that 108 units have been cut away. Don't worry, hipsters: there are still 892 edgy waterfront condos to snatch up. [Curbed]
• Forbes rounds up the glamorous year in high-end real estate with a lengthy dose of nostalgia. Apparently, the past owner of the freshly sold Harkness Mansion used to play ping-pong beneath the atrium. Who knew? [Forbes]
• So much for hot Jersey City. We sadly share the news that "after 80 Years, the Manischewitz Plant in Jersey City will close all manufacturing [and] move to Newark." But not before the most kick-ass Matzo bash the world has ever seen. L'chaim! [More after the jump]
- Max Abelson  read more »
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Jersey City back offices are apparently passe in this post-Sept. 11th world. Wall Street banks are looking further west, like northeastern Pennsylvania, which PA officials and private firms are trying to turn into a center of redundant offices and data banks in case catastrophe strikes Manhattan again. The region's promoters are calling it Wall Street West, and point to a $15 million grant from the Feds as evidence that they have got the right stuff (except, apparently, a high-speed fiber connection and a trained workforce).

The real fun will start Tuesday, when several "officers and senior business continuity executives of leading Wall Street firms" will take helicopters to a Delaware Valley hotel to get the sales pitch, according to a press advisory.

Meanwhile, it seems like a pretty decent economic development scheme as schemes go. Has someone thought of this for upstate New York?

-Matthew Schuerman

Does 7 World Trade Center have another tenant? According to this morning's New York Post, the international bank ABN Amro is "taking a good look at 7 WTC, and sources say it sent Silverstein a 'proposal' last week."

A source close to the deal cautioned that the talks were "preliminary" but the company is "interested," according to the Post. ABN Amro already has offices on Park Avenue and Jersey City and is looking for 150,000 square feet in Manhattan to consolidate its facilities, said the Post. Of the 1.6 million square feet availale at WTC, 800,000 square feet is still available. Last week, NY1's Dominic Carter said to Larry Silverstein that the "glass is half full" at 7 WTC. Silverstein quipped that it is "more than half" full , turning the rumor mill on who the extra tenant could be.  read more »

- John Koblin

Crain's is reporting that Citigroup is negotiating a 370,000-square foot lease in Jersey City and may sell its office tower at 250 West Street in Tribeca that now houses the Smith Barney investment banking division. The Daily News notes that Citi CEO Charles Prince is co-chairman of the Partnership for New York City, one of Lower Manhattan's biggest boosters. -Matthew Schuerman

Come January, Sen. Frank Lautenberg won't be New Jersey's junior senator anymore: he'll be back in the senior saddle. Perhaps anticipating his ascension, he jumped the gun a bit yesterday.

Approached by WCBS-TV NJ reporter Christine Sloan, Lautenberg agreed to go on camera and discuss Corzine's pick for Senate. Sloan asked: "Have you talked to Jon Corzine about his choice?"

"Well, I talked to Jon. It was his decision but it had my affirmation, absolutely," he replied.

"And that choice?" she asked.

"Bob Menendez," Lautenberg said.

While Lautenberg may have been stating the obvious, he hadn't been cleared to do so. No one from the Corzine or Menendez camps has confirmed the governor-elect's decision yet. The news leaked out on Wednesday, but Corzine won't divulge his big secret until this afternoon, at 2 p.m. in Jersey City.

Oops.

And... a newly-annointed Menendez will appear on "Sunday Edition with Marcia Kramer" (WCBS-TV, channel 2, 11 a.m.).  read more »

(Lautenberg illustration borrowed from Slate, with love.)

The Times has a couple of stories that The Real Estate had the jump on yesterday: First up, a look at the Freedom Center's defense, released yesterday, of withering criticism from its opposition. Second, details on Trump Plaza: Jersey City. "Trump Plaza" and "Jersey City" … they go together perfectly.

Meanwhile, the Post reports that relatives of 9/11 victims are still upset at the Freedom Center's plan. Again, it centers on possibly "anti-American" content at the Center. Three New York Republicans, Representatives Sweeney, Fossella and King, say that none of the $2.7 billion earmarked for Ground Zero should be spent on the museum.  read more »

Governors Island needs about a billion dollars for renovations, repairs and other fixes, according to the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation, says the Daily News. The dollar the city and state paid to the feds for the land isn't looking so sweet now.

The News also reports that plans for Harlem's shuttered Victoria Theater, on West 125th Street, will soon be unveiled. The Harlem Community Development Corporation has winnowed 13 development proposals down to four. The details haven't been released, but some combination of hotels and condos with a "cultural component" is expected.

At noon today, Donald Trump will announce the start of construction on Trump Plaza: Jersey City. Yes, Jersey City.

The project will include New Jersey's two tallest residential towers, and cost about $415 million. The 55-story tower will have 445 condos, and the 50-story tower will have 417. And all those eager young professionals could move in as early as November 2007.  read more »

The Real Estate could not make the trek across the Hudson today, but we would love to know if there was any mention of tonight's Apprentice premiere. Just a hunch it might have slipped in.

-Michael Calderone

The news last week that nearly two dozen Catholic elementary schools in Brooklyn and Queens are slat  read more »

The Village Voice does some more digging on the question we looked at last week: Whether charitable donations to NYC2012, the Olympic bid committee, buy influence with the city.

The new information they have comes from Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff's schedule, obtained through the Freedom of Information Law, which show -- surprise! -- "that he frequently finds himself meeting and talking about city business with those who are also being asked to ante up Olympics contributions."

The piece also fills out some of the details of the repeated appearance of a conflict between Doctoroff's official duties and his Olympics crusade:

"On April 1, 2002, Doctoroff and Kriegel crossed the Hudson River to Jersey City to talk to top officials at American Express. The giant financial firm had been forced out of its downtown offices by the 9-11 attack, and was seeking governmental assistance in relocating. But that's not what the meeting was about, Kriegel said. The two men simply wanted to thank CEO Kenneth Chenault and Amex for its earlier contribution of $300,000 to NYC2012, he said.... About six weeks after the meeting, Amex was awarded $25 million from city and state agencies—a decision that would have moved across Doctoroff's desk—to help it return downtown."  read more »

WNYC's Andrea Bernstein, who worked on the Voice piece, will be doing a series of radio reports on the subject, the first at 5:40 p.m. today.

Congress is in an inquisitive mood, which, all things considered, is generally better for the common  read more »

The son of the blind sheik is now in custody.  read more »

President George W.  read more »

Kevin Ingram, the former high-flying Goldman Sachs bond traderwho was arrested on June 12 in South F  read more »

Larry Kudlow was running late for his own dinner party. Itwas Tuesday, June 26, and Mr.  read more »

Dr. Grosso and MeI saw Dr.  read more »

Hamptons castle for sale. Walk to beach. Furnished. Must see to believe.  read more »

When I first heard Chumbawumba's "Tubthumping," I knew it was the novelty song for me.  read more »