JERSEY CITY, NJ—Development partners Kushner Real Estate Group and Ironstate Development Company have received a 2015 “Smart Growth” award from New Jersey Future for 18 Park, their iconic, mixed-use development in an emerging neighborhood in downtown Jersey City.

New Jersey Future named KRE/Ironstate's 18 Park building one of the recipients of its prestigious annual award, noting that it was designed to be the “community anchor” of an 80-acre redevelopment area in Jersey City's Liberty Harbor North neighborhood.

18 Park is a 422-unit rental building with upscale amenities and services, but it is also home to a variety of community organizations. The Boys & Girls Clubs of Hudson County occupied brand new, state-of-the-art facilities at 18 Park in 2014 after relocating from a severely outdated building nearby. The Great Futures Charter High School for Health Sciences also calls 18 Park home, as does a teen technology center that includes music recording and graphic arts equipment. The building also includes street level retail that contributes to the vibrancy and pedestrian-friendly character of the neighborhood, making it feel like a true “center” of the community.

“The broad combination of community uses, plus the retail space, the 415 apartments above the community facilities and the seven townhomes along the south side of the building all work together to generate a wide range of activity at various hours of the day and evening, giving the building the true feel of a community center,” NJ Future's award says. “As Liberty Harbor North continues to develop, 18 Park's role as a community center will only continue to grow.”

18 Park was designed to combine resident enjoyment and community engagement. The Boys & Girls Clubs of Hudson County facilities are independently accessed and include a gymnasium with a floor-to-ceiling wall as part of the club's programmed space. Parking is concealed on the interior of the building and a Hudson-Bergen Light Rail stop is right on the corner, allowing for a fully-engaged streetscape that encourages mass-transit usage and community interaction.

“We set out to create a dynamic, lifestyle-oriented property for our residents that would be not only a centerpiece of the Liberty Harbor North neighborhood, but also one of the most exciting rental offerings in all of Jersey City,” says Jonathan Kushner, president of The KRE Group. “Including usable community space for The Boys & Girls Clubs of Hudson County and other organizations was incredibly important to us too. The fact that we were able to accomplish both goals so seamlessly is a testament to our design team, our construction team and the Jersey City community as a whole.”

18 Park is one of seven Smart Growth Award recipients selected this year by New Jersey Future. Since 2002, the organization has honored more than 95 projects selected by an independent jury of professional developers, architects, planners and redevelopment experts.

KRE and Ironstate both have a history of successful development in Jersey City and currently have additional residential properties under construction in the city. The developers previously teamed up to develop and lease 225 Grand, a block from 18 Park.

KRE is currently building Journal Squared, a collection of three residential towers in Jersey City's historic Journal Square neighborhood that will ultimately include 1,838 rental residences and 36,000 square feet of retail space. Ironstate is building 70 Columbus, a 50-story tower with 543 luxury rental residences in downtown Jersey City, and URL Harborside, a collection of three towers overlooking the Manhattan skyline with 2,358 residences in the city's Harborside Financial Center neighborhood.