The ground floor theater at 165 Newark Avenue — JCTC has shared its plan for a new one. Executive Producer Olga Levina announced an ambitious project at 575 Summit Avenue that promises to bring 86,000 square feet of new arts space to Journal Square.
Those familiar with the neighborhood may know the lot. It’s the one that contains a small, disused red brick church: the Christian Reformed Pentecostal, humbly occupying the corner of Summit and Cottage while great towers rise to the heavens right behind it. Levina and her partner Ben LoPiccolo of LoPiccolo Development Group intend to restore the church building and make it the new headquarters for JCTC.
Then, they’ll construct a tower of their own right next to it — and they’re going large. It’ll be big enough to contain four theaters (one for film), two art galleries, nearly a hundred affordable live/work units for artists, and an event space, complete with catering, on the top floor. When it’s finished, Levina and LoPiccolo say, the thirty-one story building will be the tallest arts center in the world.
The announcement makes JCTC the latest player in a neighborhood that feels like it’s changing every day. Journal Square has recently been the site of some of the most ferocious redevelopment anywhere in America, and many of those new projects nod enthusiastically in the direction of the arts. Last year, the municipal government approved a tax abatement for a tower project in Journal Square after KRE, its developer, promised to make it the home of an outpost of the Pompidou, a popular and internationally recognized Paris-based museum. Details of Pompidou Jersey City have been scarce, but the city is firmly behind the project. Those who objected to the Pompidou — and many did — wondered aloud why Jersey City would invest in an out-of-town institution rather than its own arts community. At a contentious meeting in Journal Square just before the rushed passage of the abatement, Levina was one of the most articulate and passionate spokespeople for self-reliance. With the 575 Summit Avenue plan, she’s backing up her words with concrete action.
Jersey City (and Journal Square in particular) has often been promised ambitious arts-related projects that don’t materialize. Nevertheless, there’s good reason to believe that Levina and LoPiccolo will follow through with their transformative plan. The LoPiccolo Development Group turned the historic White Eagle Hall (337 Newark Ave.), into our town’s biggest concert space.
They’ll be working with Gernot Riether, the director of the School of Architecture at NJIT and an advocate for sustainable design. They’ve also got the backing of current Ward C Councilman Rich Boggiano and Ward E Councilman and mayoral candidate James Solomon, both of whom have co-sponsored the enabling resolution that will make the proposed arts center possible. (Both Boggiano and Solomon voted against the Pompidou abatement.)
To finance the construction of the tower, Levina and LoPiccolo are looking toward private partnerships and the state’s Cultural Arts Facilities Expansion Program and the ASPIRE Program for commercial and mixed-use construction.
