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(L-R) Jonathan Kushner and Marc Kushner
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Family relationships in many of New York and New Jersey’s real estate dynasties are nothing if not complicated, with intertwined links between important families going back sometimes generations and, occasionally, with sometimes difficult family issues to deal with as well. This important new project comes with such a history as part of its background too.
KRE Group, or Kushner Real Estate is a New Jersey based real estate development group that has a substantial portfolio of properties in New Jersey, and is beginning now to develop in New York City and Pennsylvania as well. KRE has just announced the start of construction of a group of three significant residential apartment towers, totaling 2.3 million square feet of space, located in Jersey City.
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The new project will be clearly seen from the New Jersey turnpike, and from its upper floors, it should have some excellent views of the Manhattan skyline across the water. Their new residential development is located in the Journal Square district of Jersey City, right beside the Port Authority Trans-Hudson, aka PATH, rail station linking to Manhattan; appropriately the project is called Journal Squared.
“This is the right time and the right place for a transit-oriented development in Journal Square, and we knew that the design needed to be something extraordinary, ” Jonathan Kushner, president of KRE Group, said as part of the announcement.
Initially the smallest of the three towers, with 54 storeys and 540 feet high, has now commenced construction and should be completed by the middle of 2016. The tallest of the towers, which with 70 storeys will be over 700 feet high, will become the State of New Jersey’s tallest building when it is all finally finished.
The three buildings are designed by New York architects HWKN in collaboration with Handel Architects. The new towers will contain 1840 apartments, each clad externally with metal panels.
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Journal Squared – rendering courtesy KRE
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The architects took good care to carefully consider the integration of human dimensions of livability and scale into what is otherwise such a large canvass; “Our goal was to design an urban space that knits together the existing urban fabric of Journal Square, while also creating an iconic presence in the skyline that can be seen from Manhattan, ” said Matthias Hollwich, a partner at HWKN.
As well as architectural detailing that breaks up large volumes into much smaller ones for the buildings’ lower floors, that are easier on the eye, at the ground level there will be a mix of amenities, including retail, restaurants, lobbies and parking aimed at making it all a truly livable environment.
“We designed a building that works equally well at the scale of the turnpike, where hundreds of thousands of people will see it every day, and at the scale of the human who walks and lives in the city, ” added his HWKN partner Marc Kushner.
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Journal Squared – rendering courtesy KRE
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About Kushner Real Estate
Kushner Real Estate has until recently been a predominantly New Jersey focused real estate development company, whose President today is Jonathan Kushner. The firm was co-founded by his father, Murray Kushner, who serves as the company’s Chairman, and by its Vice Chairman Eugene Schenkman.
Murray Kushner is the brother of Charles Kushner, the founder of Kushner Properties and the father of Jared Kushner Jared runs Kushner Properties today, and he is married to the brilliant and delightful Ivanka Trump.
Charles and Murray were once in business together, in a partnership that eventually blew up in a somewhat spectacular fashion about nine years ago. It also culminated with Charles going to prison for several months, after entrapping his brother in law with a prostitute in a bizarre episode of internal family feuding.
Jared and Jonathan are two first cousins representing the next generation therefore, who one can infer may well not have too much time for each other – simply given issues of family loyalty.
Finally Marc Kushner, who is one of the designers of the new Jersey City project, is actually Jonathan’s brother, but he is someone who is much more interested in being out on his own as a designer than in being part of the family business itself, and who is now making a name for himself as a successful architect.
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