Jersey City’s Laguna Apartments Opens for Leasing

By Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor

Jersey City, N.J.—Laguna, a 158-unit new-construction apartment in Jersey City, N.J., has opened for leasing. Already 40 percent preleased, the 19-story, Hudson River-waterfront building features one-, two- and three-bedroom units ranging in size from 760 square feet to 2,015 square feet. The Laguna is the first of the Newport master-planned community’s final phase, which will surround the neighborhood’s 4.25-acre park, Newport Green. The community is being developed by LeFrak.

The park features the only urban beach on the Hudson River, a 17,000-square-foot playground play equipment and a splash pad, a turf field and a carousel. It was opened in May.

Fronting the Hudson River, the 600-acre, privately owned Newport master-planned community began over a quarter of a century ago as abandoned piers and rail yards. Now it has eight office buildings, 13 apartment towers, two hotels, two schools and a mall, along with about 15,000 residents.

Seventeen Global Fortune 500 companies have established offices in Newport’s commercial campus, some of whom have moved operations from the more-expensive Manhattan, helping to stimulate demand for Newport’s residential properties. The next non-residential development in Newport will be Pier 6, which might include as much as 1.25 million square feet of office space.

Stevens B. Jacobs Group and Andi Pepper Design, known for designing the Edge in Brooklyn and The Gansevoort Hotel in Manhattan, did design work for Laguna. The firms outfitted the units with stainless steel Whirlpool appliances, quartz countertops and custom ItalKraft cabinetry. Bathrooms also feature grey Basalt tiled floors, glass mosaic accent walls and chrome fittings.