From left: the Centurion, Jersey City’s Soleil Lofts and Toby’s Estate

Australian coffeemaker Toby’s Estate is looking to set up shop in New York City. The company, which currently runs six cafés in Australia and is working on new locations in Paris and Singapore, is seeking retail shops with between 1,500 and 2,500 square feet of space and at least 15 feet of store frontage. Meanwhile, the developers of Jersey City’s Soleil Lofts are offering buyers hundreds of dollars in gifts if they sign contracts at the 38-unit police precinct-to-condominium conversion by Jan. 31, 2011, and I.M. Pei’s the Centurion is about to cross the 50-percent-closed threshold. Click here for more. TRD [more]

The leasing office at Monaco — Jersey City’s latest new residential tower and the tallest rental building in New Jersey — is slated to open in February, development team Roseland Property, Garden State Development and Hartz Mountain Industries has announced. The 523-unit, 50-story project consists of two towers designed by SLCE Architects, which are scheduled for completion in early spring, when they’ll eclipse the LeFrak Organization’s nearby Towers of America complex as the tallest rentals in the state. TRD [more]

The model apartment at Trump Plaza Residences

After this summer’s appearance on “HGTV Design Star,” the Trump Plaza Residences condominium in Jersey City has unveiled a permanent model residence designed by the show’s finalists. The condo, at 88 Morgan Street, is New Jersey’s tallest residential tower. The model apartment is a 1,182-square-foot, two-bedroom unit on the 32nd floor with views of the Manhattan skyline and the Hudson River. In an interview with The Real Deal just before the episode aired in July, Donald Trump Jr. said he hoped the show would boost sales at the condo. “The demographic of the people watching the show could be potential buyers, and the show highlights the amenities of the building, its views, and its proximity to city,” he said. “It was great that the show’s producers wanted to use the Jersey City project as an example of a model luxury building.” TRD

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Crystal Point

After launching sales roughly two years ago, the 269-unit Crystal Point condominium in Jersey City is 60 percent sold, according to developer Fisher Development Associates. The building began closings about six months ago, with roughly 50 percent of the units closed. Asking prices for the one-, two- and three-bedroom units start in the mid-$500,000s. Despite this good news, sales have not always been smooth for Crystal Point. The development was granted its second tax abatement in the summer of 2009, following sluggish sales. The Marketing Directors are handling sales at the building. TRD

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The July 25 episode
of HGTV’s “Design Star” series challenged two teams of contestants to
each design a two-bedroom model apartments at the new Trump Plaza
Residences in Jersey City, and incorporate and repurpose some New York
City souvenirs into the finished product. Donald Trump Jr. was on hand
as a guest judge, as The Real Deal reported last week. In an exclusive interview with The Real Deal,
Trump described the building as being consistent with the Trump ideal
of “luxury.” The 55-story, 443-unit building, at 88 Morgan Street
between Washington and Green streets, is the tallest residential tower
in Jersey City. Trump said he was impressed with elegant and soft look
of one team’s design, incorporating souvenirs from Times Square and
Broadway. The other team disappointed Trump, who said their design
resembled a college dorm and that the implementation of the souvenirs
was ineffective. At the end of the episode, two contestants were
eliminated.

[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]

The Bloomberg Administration and environmental officials have named the Jamaica Bay as their next cleanup target area. Meanwhile, Chase, the consumer and commercial banking arm of JPMorgan Chase, announced today the opening of two new centers in the tri-state area to help distressed homeowners avoid foreclosure. Click here for more. [more]

Once considered a viable alternative to pricey Manhattan office space, the New Jersey waterfront is now losing its luster in the eyes of fiscally-minded businesses, according to Crain’s, making 2009 the most dismal the region has seen in two years. The disparity in lease rates between New Jersey waterfront office space, in cities like Weehawken, Hoboken, and Jersey City, and Manhattan is slowly narrowing, leading to a slowdown in activity. After massive asking rent cuts in Lower Manhattan, the rent gap between there and New Jersey dwindled to just $6 per square foot, according to Cushman & Wakefield. As a result, the first nine months of 2009 saw 710,000 square feet of space hit the market with no takers.

Thirty-two condos in Downtown Jersey City sold during the month of December, after an average of 95 days on the market. The sales price came in at roughly $436,035; the listing price was $443,717. In the previous month, 35 condos sold in the up-and-coming waterfront neighborhood for an average of $435,150 after 84 days on the market. December left Downtown Jersey City with 293 active condo listings, with an average price of $513,629, and 80 units under contract. At the end of November, the inventory stood at 285 listings for roughly $538,749 each. In the area’s 16 waterfront buildings, including Mandalay on the Hudson and Shore Club, 13 units sold during the month of December. [Weichert Realtors]