65 Bay Street is a 50-story apartment tower, originally named Trump Bay Street after

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

and located at 65 Bay Street in Jersey City, New Jersey. It is located adjacent to the Trump Plaza apartment tower, which was completed in 2008. A second Trump Plaza tower had initially been planned but was delayed, and the property for the proposed building was sold several times during the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...

Kushner Companies Kushner Companies LLC is an American real estate developer in the New York City metropolitan area. The company's biggest presence is in the New Jersey residential market. A study published in December 2017 by ''Bloomberg News'' indicated that ...

– managed by Trump's son-in-law,

Jared Kushner Jared Corey Kushner (born January 10, 1981) is an American businessman and investor. He served as a senior advisor to 45th U.S. president Donald Trump, his father-in-law. Since leaving the White House, Kushner founded Affinity Partners, a pri ...

– and New Jersey-based KABR Group purchased the property in 2011.

Groundbreaking Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod, or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such ceremonies are ...

for the second tower, Trump Bay Street, took place in May 2014. The project, built at a cost of $225 million, was opened in November 2016.

History

A 55-story twin-tower apartment project known as HarborSpire was initially planned for the property, located at the intersection of Washington Street and Bay Street. The project was approved in 1999, but never materialized. In July 2005,

became involved in a new, similar twin-tower project, to be built on the same property and to be known as Trump Plaza. The first Trump Plaza tower was completed in 2008. The originally planned second tower was delayed, and the property for it was ultimately sold several times during the

recession In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction when there is a general decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be triggered by various ...

. Morgan Street Developers Urban Renewal Company LLC, a partnership of Kushner Companies and New Jersey-based KABR Group, purchased the property out of foreclosure in April 2011. Kushner Companies was managed by Trump's son-in-law,

. In April 2014, the city council approved a five-year tax abatement for Trump Bay Street, the second phase of the Trump Plaza project. Trump Bay Street was designed by

DeWitt Tishman Architects DeWitt Tishman Architects was a New York architecture firm headed by Peter DeWitt. The firm, which has worked extensively in Jersey City is known for the use of brick, color, and pattern in designing residential towers within tight budget constrain ...

and

Humphreys and Partners Architects Humphreys & Partners Architects is a Dallas-based architecture firm who has extensive experience in high-rise, mid-rise, student, senior, tax credit, affordable, moderate and luxury communities. Reported in 2017, Humphreys & Partners generated $65 ...

. The structure, located one block east of Trump Plaza, was designed to resemble its twin tower.

Construction

for the second tower was held on May 14, 2014. The 50-story tower was to have 447 apartment units, and was expected to take approximately 30 months to build, with construction expected to cost $193.5 million. The project was partially funded by $38.5 million from the partnership of Kushner Companies and KABR. The project was also financed for $50 million by Chinese investors through the

EB-5 visa The United States EB-5 visa, ''employment-based fifth preference category'' or ''EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Program'', created in 1990 by the Immigration Act of 1990, provides a method for eligible immigrant investors to become lawful perman ...

program, which Trump criticized during his

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CIT Group CIT Group (CIT), a subsidiary of First Citizens BancShares, is an American financial services company. It provides financing, including factoring, cash management, treasury management, mortgage loans, Small Business Administration loans, le ...

also provided a $140 million loan for the project. On September 30, 2015, during construction, a concrete block fell from the building's 31st floor and injured a police officer's torso. Most construction work was halted that day and the following day while the

Occupational Safety and Health Administration The Occupational Safety and Health Administration'' (OSHA ) is a large regulatory agency of the United States Department of Labor that originally had federal visitorial powers to inspect and examine workplaces. Congress established the agenc ...

, as well as state labor safety officials, investigated the incident. Before allowing construction to resume, city officials had construction workers remove debris from each floor and construct

scaffolding Scaffolding, also called scaffold or staging, is a temporary structure used to support a work crew and materials to aid in the construction, maintenance and repair of buildings, bridges and all other man-made structures. Scaffolds are widely use ...

on the building's side to protect pedestrians below. Police officers responsible for directing traffic between Trump Bay Street and another construction site also began wearing hard hats. The project was completed at a cost of approximately $225 million.

Opening and operation

Trump Bay Street began leasing apartments in early November 2016. The building includes 50 floors and stands 484 feet tall. After Trump was elected as U.S. president, Jared Kushner was appointed as a White House advisor. Kushner divested some of his stakes in Kushner Companies, but maintained economic interest in Trump Bay Street. In February 2017, local residents protested outside the building, stating their intention to boycott any retailers that occupy space on the ground floor. Explaining their reason for protesting, the residents cited President Trump's actions that targeted illegal immigration and refugees from Muslim majority countries, as well as comments that he made in 2015, in which he claimed that thousands of Jersey City residents cheered after learning about the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

. In May 2017, it was reported that state officials allowed the project's developers to cite high unemployment rates in other parts of the city in order to qualify for EB-5 funding, as the area around Trump Bay Street had a low unemployment rate of less than three percent. EB-5 advisor Michael Gibson stated that such a practice, although contrary to the original purpose of the EB-5 program, was still legal. As of June 2017, more than half of the building was rented out, and the structure was valued between $340 million and $360 million.

References

External links

Official website
{{Trump businesses Donald Trump real estate Residential skyscrapers in Jersey City, New Jersey Residential buildings completed in 2016 Apartment buildings in Jersey City, New Jersey 2016 establishments in New Jersey Skyscrapers in Jersey City, New Jersey