From left: Caren Franzini, CEO of the NJ Economic Development Authority, Steven J. Pozycki, CEO of SJP Properties, Rich Glicini, senior vice president at Pearson, Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer, N.J. Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno and a rendering of 225 River Street

Pearson, the world’s leading education publisher, said at a press conference today that it would relocate most of its New Jersey operations to the Hoboken waterfront, becoming the anchor tenant of SJP Properties’ new $150 million office tower when it opens in 2014.

Pearson will move 900 employees from Upper Saddle River and Old Tappan, N.J., into five floors, or 200,000 square feet of the new planned 14-story Silver LEED-certified building, which will begin construction this fall and open in early 2014. [more]

From left: Hartz Mountain CEO Leonard Stein and a rendering of the Lincoln Harbor rental developmentA stagnant office market in New Jersey has led to residential development along the state’s Hudson River waterfront, where builders lure Manhattan workers with luxury amenities at cheaper prices. According to the Wall Street Journal, the struggling commercial market was precisely what led developer Hartz Mountain Industries to push to rezone the Lincoln Harbor waterfront land it has owned for 30 years in Weehawken, N.J. in order to erect a massive rental complex.

Since 1981, when it purchased the plot of land near the base of the Lincoln Tunnel, the developer has brought 2 million square feet of commercial space. [more]

A plan to transform an industrial zone in Hoboken into a thriving artistic hub is taking shape, the Wall Street Journal reported, as developer Hershey Weiss continues the renovation of a former factory building.

Weiss purchased the building, at Monroe and 7th streets in Hoboken, earlier this year by purchasing the debt on the property from the bank, the Journal said. He is carrying out $3 million in renovation work. The new hub has started to attract new tenants to the offices and artists’ lofts, he said; deals have been signed with a bridal studio, two artists and a children’s fitness center.

The building has been used since 1990 as the Monroe Center for the Arts, but its former owner filed for bankruptcy protection in 2008. [more]

More New Jersey towns have rent-control rules than any other state in the country, but according to the Wall Street Journal many of those municipalities are moving to eradicate parts of the law.

Last week two cities, Hoboken and Bayonne, voted to soften rent-control rules, with the former limiting the amount tenants can recoup from past overcharges and the latter decontrolling apartments after tenants move out. The state’s controlled units typically have rent appreciations that correspond with the Consumer Price Index, or about 2 percent, per year. In recent years, nine towns have chosen to phase out the laws entirely. [more]

The city of Hoboken may sell the Hoboken University Medical Center to
the medical development group HUMC Holdco to ensure that the hospital
stays open, WNYC reported. Under the deal, the city would transfer
nearly $52 million in guaranteed bonds to the new ownership. Hoboken’s City Council began
supporting the hospital in 2007 when the hospital was close to failure
and this morning the State Health Planning Board recommended the sale.
Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer said at a hearing this morning that the
hospital will close if the sale does not go through. [more]

Willow14

New Jersey-based developer Advance Realty announced its entry into the Hoboken market with plans for a mixed-use building at a one-acre site on 14th Street and Willow Avenue. The project, called Willow14, includes a seven-story building with 140 luxury apartments, 22,000 square feet of retail space and 387 parking spaces.
Construction is slated to begin in late 2011, with occupancy expected by the end of 2013.
“This project has come to fruition because the market is currently demanding a high-end, energy efficient and centrally located rental building across from New York City that allows residents to live a vibrant lifestyle with convenient access to shopping and dining,” Kevin Tartaglione, senior vice president and COO of development of Advance Realty, said in a statement. TRD [more]

While icy sidewalks might be the last thing on many building managers’
minds lately, the Skyline Condominium, at 551 Observer Highway in
Hoboken, just got some good news about its own often-icy environs. The
CM3 Management Company — along with the city of Hoboken and the
Skyline Condominium Association — had been sued by an injured
pedestrian for failing to plow its frozen over walkway in Winter 2006,
according to Hoboken 411. But a court ruled in favor of the defendants
this week, saying that the “landowners who shoveled snow from sidewalk
were not liable to a pedestrian who fell on ice created after snow had
melted, collected in a depression in the sidewalk, and then froze,”
because they had not “in clearing the sidewalk … increase[d] the
natural hazard by introducing some new element of danger.” Click here to see a slideshow of Hoboken’s treacherous chilly season.

[more]

From left: William Procida and Dean Geibel

Commercial real estate firm William Procida Inc. has been retained by developer Dean Geibel, the founder of Metro Homes, for advice on finding potential investors for his stalled New Jersey condominium projects, Esperanza Asbury Park and Trump Plaza Jersey City.

Geibel and Procida are in discussions with various investors about potential deals to revive the stalled projects, which encountered difficulty in 2007 and 2008 amid softening demand in the real estate market and tight credit among financial institutions. Capital One Financial is the senior lender on both projects.

”Hopeful we we’ll be able to get a resolution that will involve Dean staying in and the bank getting out and some new capital coming in,” said Procida, whose firm is based in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. [more]

From the April issue: In the midst of the real estate downturn, reams of new condo buyers — facing job losses or simply spooked at the sudden drop in the values of their apartments — refused to close on their units. Equally spooked developers responded by sticking to their guns, refusing to return deposits that often reached six or seven figures. For a time, the resulting flurry of lawsuits and complaints to the Attorney General effectively crippled the new development market. While some developers are still taking a firm stance on deposits, others are starting to negotiate with buyers who want out of their contracts. Given the high cost of litigation and the long wait for resolution by the AG, many prefer to cut a deal with unhappy buyers and move on to the next sale. [more]

A Manhattan-based real estate fund has filed a breach of contract suit against the troubled Park Avenue Bank and asked for a restraining order to block any further attempts to forgive delinquent loans. Park Avenue Funding, which filed suit Thursday in New York State Supreme Court, asked for a restraining order to prevent the bank from settling any more loans that it claims would threaten more than about $3.9 million it has invested in the bank.
“[Park Avenue] Funding is concerned that the bank will again breach its obligations as servicer of the participation loans in an effort to improve its equity capital and appease the FDIC by reducing its concentration in commercial real estate loans,” the lawsuit says. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the New York State Department of Banking issued cease-and-desist orders against the bank in February 2009, alleging the bank engaged in risky lending practices. [more]