Jersey City developer switches game plan mid-job at Mercury Lofts

When development group Metrovest Equities first envisioned the 17-floor Mercury Lofts condominium building in Jersey City, it pictured its restoration leading to a 104-unit tower, a perfect companion to the Rialto and the Capital, the two other buildings in the Beacon condominium cluster. But Mercury Lofts, which recently launched sales, doesn’t exactly reflect the original plans, according to George Filopoulos, president of Metrovest.

“We were about 50 percent through the restoration,” Filopoulos said. “What we did was, we stopped construction, we asked ourselves, ‘do we want to have inventory that’s similar to other condos [in Jersey City]?’”

And that’s how the Mercury ended up with just 25 floor-gobbling units.

Introductory prices on the lofts — each of which is either a full-floor unit or a half-floor unit — are below $300 per square foot, according to Filopoulos. He said that while many developers are fighting to create smaller, less expensive units to put on the market, Jersey City values allow him to make larger units that he believes will still sell.

“We created an alternative for buyers who, at this price point, would be facing a typical one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan,” Filopoulos said.