Editor’s note: This project is just one-half of a larger, two-part development for the block-long site. Read all the details and see the renderings of the other half here, 659 Grove Street project.

Until recently, the corner of Eighteenth Street and Jersey Avenue in Jersey City was quite desolate, with several vacant lots and abandoned industrial buildings in the vicinity. Today, with several new high-rise residential towers in the area, and the recently completed Second Street Esplanade walking and biking path that connects it to Hoboken Avenue and the 2nd Street Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Station, it is clear that this community near the Hoboken border is going through an unprecedented revitalization.

Now, even more new businesses and hundreds of new residents could soon take part in the changes in the neighborhood, since a new building is coming to 854 Jersey Avenue, at the intersection’s northeastern corner. City records show that when completed, the development will be ten stories tall, and will include 119 dwelling units and 14,000 square feet of commercial space. The Preliminary Major Site Plan was approved with conditions by the Jersey City Planning Board during its May 30th public meeting.

Newport First Equities Limited Partnership is listed as the project developer, and NJ Parcels records show that the company is registered out of the same Midtown Manhattan office floor as the LeFrak Organization, which has been developing in Jersey City for over 30 years, according to The New York Times.

Currently, the 1.6255 acre property contains an Exxon gas station, a Tiger Mart, and a Dunkin’ Donuts location. It is located diagonally across the street from the new Cast Iron Lofts complex, and is situated across Jersey Avenue from a vacant lot owned by a company that is also registered out of LeFrak’s headquarters, though no new developments have been revealed yet for that property.