JERSEY CITY - Imaginations ran wild yesterday as graffiti artists got to legally spray paint, or tag, some private property at the shopping center on Marin Boulevard near Newport in Downtown Jersey City. But the artwork isn't here to stay.

The Pep Boys store that was tagged closed last week and is set to be demolished next week, said Greg Edgell, who worked with the company's district manager to get the go-ahead to tag the the outside of the shop.

"Without getting too philosophical, it's kind of the epitome of graffiti in of itself because graffiti is temporary," said Edgell, founder of the Jersey City art production company Green Villain. "It could be five seconds that something's up or it could be five years. So this is kind of just the truest form of that."

The former store is part of a massive redevelopment plan that includes a 35-story tower.

Edgell, 27, first got permission to tag only the back of the building, the part that faces the Hudson-Bergen light rail tracks. He pitched the idea to the store's manager in 2014 when the store was still in business. When the shop closed, he got the green light to tag the rest of the walls.

Yesterday's event represented one of the largest projects Green Villain has tackled. The organization has has tagged 22 other structures in New Jersey and New York, Edgell said.

Some 20 to 30 artists participated yesterday.

"This shows different varieties of art to the city," said the artist Tenk who lives in Connecticut. "It's a good event for the community. Everyone stops by to take a look. ... Graffiti is sort of its own language that everyone can understand."

Several people headed to shops in the plaza stopped and admired the artwork, and many whipped out their cameras to take photos of the graffiti.

"It's like Jersey City's version of Five Points (in Manhattan)," said Valencia Tuitt, a Jersey City resident who works in finance in New York City. "Jersey City is changing. You see all the modern buildings coming up and you need to have that connection to art. The whole feel of this is gritty. Definitely, I love this."