Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop joined the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark, Catholic Charities, City Council members, Claremont Development, and Arc Building Partners on Sept. 10 to officially begin construction on a new, 56,000-square-foot homeless services facility located at 610-620 Grove St., between 15th Street and 16th Street.

Completion is slated for the fourth quarter of 2022 for the project, which will include community facilities, space for administrative and counseling services and a homeless shelter operated by Catholic Charities.

Cushman & Wakefield serves as exclusive adviser to Claremont Development in the procurement of $16 million for the acquisition and pre-development financing for St. Lucy’s Tower and construction financing for the shelter. The loan was provided by Lionheart Strategic Management. A Cushman & Wakefield Equity, Debt & Structured Finance team of John Alascio, Chuck Kohaut, TJ Sullivan, and Zachary Kraft represented the borrower.

This project will include emergency and transitional offerings along with multiple affordable housing solutions and comprehensive supportive services for individuals and families who are homeless.

Located at 619 Grove St., the 23-story mixed-use redevelopment of St. Lucy’s Tower, built in 1884 for the former St. Lucy’s Church, will include 444 residential units, 5,600 square feet of ground floor commercial space, a five-story parking deck and 18,500 square feet of indoor and outdoor amenity space.

“With this groundbreaking, we’re building a safe space that will not only provide food and shelter for those in need, but we’re also utilizing St. Lucy’s established success as the foundation to build a brighter, more prosperous future for our neediest residents and families for generations to come,” said Fulop. “As we work collectively to eradicate homelessness, the city is committing over $2 million in grant funding to help expand beyond traditional shelter services to also include more permanent housing options and transitional support as well as everyday necessities that better address the health and well-being of our most vulnerable residents.”

The expanded St. Lucy’s campus will feature a total of 165 beds for individuals who are homeless, 14 units of transitional housing for individuals with HIV, five permanent supportive housing units specifically for families, and 15 permanent affordable housing studio apartments. The housing and public services site also provide its temporary and permanent residents with access to comprehensive case management services offered on-site, with a goal to help the individual find permanent housing, employment, and address any other needs that they may have—such as physical health, mental health, or substance use.

The St. Lucy’s Public Benefit Project and related St. Lucy’s Tower development effort has been underway since 2015 and includes a series of now complete property exchanges, zoning approvals, and overall planning consent.

The new $16 million facility is fully funded through Claremont Development and at no cost to Jersey City taxpayers.

“As one of the largest and longest-standing homeless shelters in the state, St. Lucy’s has always played a pivotal role in helping so many within our community,” said John Westervelt, chief executive officer of Catholic Charities. “We couldn’t be more excited to mark the commencement of construction activity on such a transformational project. Our team really is looking forward to this state-of-the-art facility that will enable us to provide more services to our vulnerable neighbors.”

“It’s amazing to see several years of hard work come together in a project kickoff moment like this, especially with the amount of different governing agencies, local interest groups, stakeholders, professionals and partners that have been intricately involved in this process to get us where we are today,” said Maximilian Dorne, partner at Claremont Development. “We know the St. Lucy’s Project is the important first step in reimagining the entire development site, and we couldn’t be more excited to begin seeing this project come to fruition.”