There’s no lack of appeal for the site that will be known as Hudson Exchange West, an 18-acre tract in downtown Jersey City that’s bordered by three of its most sought-after neighborhoods.
But Abe Naparstek knows that location can be a challenge as much as will be an asset.
“We’ve done a lot of interesting things around the country with how you mix uses and build a master-planned community, but make it feel like the fabric of the existing community around it,” said Naparstek, an executive with Forest City Residential. “And that’s a hard thing to do — we don’t want to just plop down a new project that isn’t integrated into the neighborhoods that surround (it).”
It’s why he feels a “fresh perspective” will be key to the success of the mixed-use plan, which calls for more than 6 million square of development over 20 years. It’s the first major redevelopment project in the state for Forest City, Naparstek said, “so we’re really trying to take the best of what we’ve learned from around the country and bring that to Jersey City.”
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