HOBOKEN, NJ-Developer Bijou Properties has received its approvals to develop a 12-story mixed-use building at 1415 Park Ave. at 14th Street here. Ground is expected to be broken for the yet-to-be-named building within the next 12 to 14 months, with completion slated for a year after that. The $100 million project will rise on the current site of a parking garage and an adjacent empty lot.

The plans call for a total of 180 condo residences, 30,000 sf of ground-floor retail and 371 parking spaces, according to Lawrence Bijou, managing partner of the Teaneck-based Bijou Properties. As part of the development plan, Bijou Properties is also going to donate 46,000 sf of space in the building to the Elysian Charter School, which currently operates in two separate locations within this Hudson County city.

"Our goal is to develop housing that contributes to the community at large, and this new building fits into that philosophy," Bijou says. "In addition to offering living spaces, this project supports education by providing Elysian Charter School with a much-needed learning center."

The project is also going to be built to gold LEED standards, "one of the first certified mixed-use developments in the state of New Jersey," Bijou says. It also, in that regard, follows another recently announced Bijou project here. As reported by GlobeSt.com recently, the company started construction in February for Garden Street Lofts, the conversion of an 80-year-old, seven-story warehouse building into 30 loft-style condos.

"This new building follows in the footsteps of Garden Street Lofts," Bijou says. "We are currently building that project in accordance with the Green Building Council's guidelines for developing sustainable buildings."

As far as the company's latest project, which is being designed by the locally based Dean Marchetto Architects, "it will feature a green roof that retains water," Bijou explains. "It will also feature an interior piping system that filters natural air, and an energy-conserving design that will reduce monthly bills and lessen the building's impact on the city's infrastructure. There will also be 20,000 sf of green space made up of three separate rooftop gardens."