Jackson Hill Gas Station to Become Five-Story Apartment Building

For years, the corner of Communipaw and Madison Avenues has smelled like gasoline and motor oil. Soon, it will smell like someone’s Sunday morning coffee. The Jersey City Planning Board voted unanimously on August 25 to approve a five-story building on the site of a former vehicle service station at 565 Communipaw Avenue, replacing the squat 4,800-square-foot garage with 21 apartments and ground-floor retail space in the Jackson Hill neighborhood.

What’s actually coming

The project, from Community Development LLC, calls for eight studios, eight one-bedrooms (three of them with a den), four two-bedrooms, and one three-bedroom. Sizes range from a tight 408 square feet for a studio to 1,067 square feet for the three-bedroom. Renters will get 1,764 square feet of retail at street level, a 1,600-square-foot cellar with bike storage and a trash compactor, plus a 2,190-square-foot roof deck, a 320-square-foot common room, and a modest green roof.

There is no on-site parking. That detail alone will draw plenty of kitchen-table conversation in a neighborhood where many households still own a car. Two of the units — one studio and the three-bedroom — will be set aside as affordable housing. The developer also agreed to rebuild the sidewalks around the building as a condition of approval.

How we got here

The application didn’t sail through. It was carried from the June 9 meeting to July 28 and finally approved August 25, mostly over a single technical point: a variance for maximum roof appurtenance coverage, which is planning-speak for how much mechanical equipment can sit on top of the building. Hoboken-based architect Anthony Vandermark, a principal at MVMK Architecture, told the board the building’s color palette shifted to terracotta red and champagne-colored panelized cement board after feedback from community meetings held last year.

It’s also worth understanding the block itself. This stretch of Communipaw has seen little new construction for years. But directly across the street, at 558 Communipaw, a vacant lot became a five-story mixed-use building with retail and a roof deck after the Planning Board approved that plan back in 2023. Piece by piece, a corner is changing shape.

What it means for Hudson County

For families in Jackson Hill, this is both opportunity and friction. The new apartments add homes in a city that desperately needs them — and two of those homes will be priced for people who can’t afford market rate. That matters for a nurse commuting in from Bayonne, a teacher’s aide raising kids two blocks away, or a young couple trying to stay in the neighborhood they grew up in.

But no parking means the cars have to go somewhere. Already, side streets around Communipaw fill up fast on weeknights. When you walk past the corner after work, you’ll likely see the difference within a year: fewer tow trucks and oil stains, more strollers, more delivery bikes, more neighbors on a roof deck at sunset.

What people are saying

At the August meeting, board members raised no objections after the applicant’s team walked through the plans. Vandermark pointed to the redesign as a direct response to neighbors. “The community wanted something warmer,” he said in effect, describing the switch to terracotta and champagne panels. Carolyn Worstell, the planner representing the developer, explained the roof variance clearly enough that the board approved it without back-and-forth.

Residents who’ve followed the project say they’re relieved the service station is finally leaving. Others worry about street parking and whether the retail space will sit empty. Both concerns are legitimate. Both will play out in real time on that corner.

What comes next

Demolition of the old service station hasn’t been scheduled publicly, and construction timelines for projects like this usually stretch 18 to 24 months once shovels hit the ground. If you live nearby, watch for demolition permits posted at the site and for sidewalk closure notices from the city’s Division of Engineering. The developer is on the hook for rebuilding the surrounding sidewalks — a small but real win for anyone who’s tripped on that stretch. Keep an eye on the Planning Board’s public agenda if you want to follow the next domino on Communipaw.

Change on this corner is no longer a question. The only question left is who gets to live there — and whether the neighborhood still feels like home when the dust settles.