The Waterfront neighborhood, located on the eastern edge of Jersey City, is one of the City’s three neighborhoods with the Hudson River as its eastern border. Once home to large manufacturing and distribution companies as well as bustling rail yards and piers, the area fell into disrepair in the decades following World War II as a result of companies either relocating or closing their facilities.
During the 1980s, the area began a renaissance that started with the redevelopment of the old Harborside Terminal. Another significant development during the 1980s was the construction of the Newport Community on the northern edge of the Waterfront neighborhood. Today, Newport encompasses 5.5 million square feet of commercial space, has its own ZIP code and more than 3,900 residential units. Its commercial tenants include JP Morgan Chase Bank, Knight Equity Markets and the University of Phoenix.
Newport Centre also has a 1.2 million square-foot mall with Macy’s and the J.C. Penney Company as its anchor tenants, several big box retailers and a Courtyard by Marriott Hotel. More than 7,000 people are employed in Newport.
Another pivotal transformation of the Waterfront neighborhood came in the mid-1990s with the construction of 101 Hudson at Exchange Place, to house offices for Merrill Lynch, a financial services company with its main offices located in lower Manhattan. “Wall Street West”, as the area is often called, houses thousands of employees formerly located in lower Manhattan. One of the most significant new structures is the 47-story Goldman Sachs building, located on the old Colgate Palmolive site on the southern edge of the area. This is the tallest building in New Jersey.
The Waterfront has an extensive public transportation network, including New Jersey Transit Buses, a light rail system and the PATH system to Newark and New York City. Its population is housed in relatively new mid and high-rise apartment complexes surrounding 19th century brownstones, interspersed with a variety of mixed use commercial and retail establishments.