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Jersey City woos Jets over lunch
Saturday, March 11, 2006
By JARRETT RENSHAW
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
Local officials yesterday put on the last-minute rush to attract the New York Jets to Jersey City during a posh luncheon stocked with wine, fresh salmon, and plenty of political cheerleading.
"This is a great opportunity for Jersey City, and I can't think of another city in this state that can offer what we can offer," Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy told a crowd of nearly 50 politicians, developers and others gathered at the Liberty House restaurant in Liberty State Park.
Bart Oates, a former New York Giants lineman who represents the Jets in their real estate transactions, showed the city's push is paying off because "Jersey City is in the top half of the five cities" still vying for the deal.
Jersey City has proposed the Jets build the training camp on a 28-acre site along Caven Point Avenue - on the waterfront in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty. A conceptual site plan calls for four practice fields, a 150,000-square-foot main building, an auditorium and parking for more than 300 cars.
If the Jets choose the site, they would displace fields now used for soccer, softball and baseball, but the Jets would help to replace them with fields elsewhere in the city, city officials have said. Cochrane Stadium would remain in the city's possession.
"If the city is not greener, then the deal is not going to be done," said Carl Czaplicki, Healy's chief of staff and the city's lead negotiator in the deal.
Oates said that a decision is coming within two weeks, and the Jets hope to put shovels in the ground by the summer, with an expected opening date of August 2007.
The luncheon featured a six-minute video presentation that highlighted Jersey City's transformation from a blue-collar industrial city into "New York's sixth borough." The video included snippets from a number of high-profile politicians and developers, including Gov. Jon Corzine, Donald Trump and former President Bill Clinton.
"Mayor Healy, I am proud to be in Jersey City," Clinton announced on the video, pulled from the former president's visit during last year's gubernatorial election campaign.
Jamie LeFrak, one of a number of developers present, said the proposed deal's biggest perks would be the marketing and promotion it would bring to the city.
"It would attract a lot of media attention, and it will help break some people's old views of Jersey City," said LeFrak.
© 2006 The Jersey Journal
© 2006 NJ.com All Rights Reserved.
Jersey City woos Jets over lunch
Saturday, March 11, 2006
By JARRETT RENSHAW
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
Local officials yesterday put on the last-minute rush to attract the New York Jets to Jersey City during a posh luncheon stocked with wine, fresh salmon, and plenty of political cheerleading.
"This is a great opportunity for Jersey City, and I can't think of another city in this state that can offer what we can offer," Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy told a crowd of nearly 50 politicians, developers and others gathered at the Liberty House restaurant in Liberty State Park.
Bart Oates, a former New York Giants lineman who represents the Jets in their real estate transactions, showed the city's push is paying off because "Jersey City is in the top half of the five cities" still vying for the deal.
Jersey City has proposed the Jets build the training camp on a 28-acre site along Caven Point Avenue - on the waterfront in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty. A conceptual site plan calls for four practice fields, a 150,000-square-foot main building, an auditorium and parking for more than 300 cars.
If the Jets choose the site, they would displace fields now used for soccer, softball and baseball, but the Jets would help to replace them with fields elsewhere in the city, city officials have said. Cochrane Stadium would remain in the city's possession.
"If the city is not greener, then the deal is not going to be done," said Carl Czaplicki, Healy's chief of staff and the city's lead negotiator in the deal.
Oates said that a decision is coming within two weeks, and the Jets hope to put shovels in the ground by the summer, with an expected opening date of August 2007.
The luncheon featured a six-minute video presentation that highlighted Jersey City's transformation from a blue-collar industrial city into "New York's sixth borough." The video included snippets from a number of high-profile politicians and developers, including Gov. Jon Corzine, Donald Trump and former President Bill Clinton.
"Mayor Healy, I am proud to be in Jersey City," Clinton announced on the video, pulled from the former president's visit during last year's gubernatorial election campaign.
Jamie LeFrak, one of a number of developers present, said the proposed deal's biggest perks would be the marketing and promotion it would bring to the city.
"It would attract a lot of media attention, and it will help break some people's old views of Jersey City," said LeFrak.
© 2006 The Jersey Journal
© 2006 NJ.com All Rights Reserved.
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 12:16 PM
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