Tall & Urban News

The first stages of excavation at 25 Columbus Drive are apparent, as the asphalt from the former parking lot is now being ripped up. This will become the future site of a new mixed-use complex that will rise 626 feet (190.8 meters) tall and 57 floors high. Handel Architects is designing the proposed structure, while Mack Cali is the developer of the downtown Jersey City project. A total of 750 rental apartments, a 35,000-square-foot (3,251 square-meter) privately-funded public school for levels pre-K through first grade, four storefronts covering 16,485 square feet (1,531 square meters) of retail space, and a public plaza will soon be built.

Recent photos show a large amount of progress with a couple of pile drivers, excavators, and a tall crane rig with hollow steel caissons on the property. The construction project is bounded by Columbus Drive, Washington Street, Warren Street, and Montgomery Street. Handel’s new skyscraper will mostly occupy the northern end of the plot, while an existing apartment building will remain standing on the southern side.

A large crane rig is also on site to lift the hollow steel caissons for the foundations. The future complex is located between the Grove Street and Exchange Place PATH stations, and is less than 10 minutes from the Jersey City waterfront. The Exchange Place light rail platform is also to the east, as well as the Paulus Hook and Riverside ferry terminals.

A completion date for 25 Columbus Drive has not been announced yet.

For more on this story, go to New York YIMBY.