Objective
Move into a new apartment in downtown Jersey City. Three sub-goals: sign a lease, close out remaining items at the current Union City place, and execute the move itself.
Context
Budget is 4,000/month, targeting the Grove Street area. Top priorities: neighborhood vibe, and PATH proximity. Secondary priorities is dining access, square footage, building amenities. Renewal increase behavior is a known risk with corporate operators. Net effective rent was originally the number that mattered here, but see the 2026-09-10 ADR on net effective versus gross: concessions turned out to exist at exactly one landlord, so gross is now the comparison basis.
The PATH goal, specifically: cut the commute to Two Sigma (100 Sixth Ave, SoHo) and make the ride home easy when out late. That translates to two lines, not one. The Newark-WTC line is the work line (WTC, then E train two stops to Spring St or a 15 min walk). The Journal Square-33rd St line is the late-night line (one-seat home from Christopher St, 9th, 14th, 23rd, 33rd).
Current place: unit 509, 1415 Manhattan Ave (AKA 1410-1418 Palisades Ave), Union City. Landlord is 1410 Palisades Avenue LLC via Green Property LLC, (201) 952-9800, managed through AppFolio. Security deposit is $4,162.50, returned within 30 days after term end.
All of the following was verified on 2026-09-10 by reading the actual lease documents, now filed in Drive under Housing/1415 Manhattan. The current term runs 11/01/2025 to 10/31/2026 at 3,229.05, a 3.0% increase.
Three things in the lease shape the move:
- The renewal is already rejected, and vacating by 10/31/2026 is now an obligation rather than a choice. Clause 4.17 gives the tenant until the earlier of 30 days from the notice or 30 days before term end to accept. The offer is dated 07/23/2026, so the deadline was 08/22/2026, and it passed. Non-response is deemed rejection, and the clause states the tenant “must vacate its Apartment at the end of the Term”. This is the desired outcome, but it is now fixed.
- There is no holdover provision. Clause 2.21 covers only cleaning and removing property. Nothing in the lease creates a month-to-month tenancy after 10/31, so staying into November would need Green Property’s active agreement, asked for after a deemed rejection. Any move-in date after Nov 1 therefore means real interim housing, not a cheap extension.
- Section 5 is titled “Early Termination Not Permitted” and is punitive: all rent through re-rental, broker fees up to one month, and retroactive reversal of every promotional credit, which the lease warns “can often EXCEED the amount of rent due through the natural end of your lease”.
Renewal history, which is the benchmark for judging every other operator in this search:
| Term | Rent | Increase |
|---|---|---|
| 09/09/2022 to 10/31/2023 | $2,775.00 | initial |
| 11/01/2023 to 10/31/2024 | $2,900.00 | 4.5% |
| 11/01/2024 to 10/31/2025 | $3,045.00 | 5.0% |
| 11/01/2025 to 10/31/2026 | $3,135.00 | 3.0% |
| 11/01/2026 to 10/31/2027 (offered, lapsed) | $3,229.05 | 3.0% |
Green Property raises 3 to 5% and the trend is downward. Worth holding against the 20% figures residents report at Liberty Harbor. It also means the lapsed renewal at $3,229 is cheaper than every downtown option researched, though it fails the PATH objective this project exists for.
Approach
Pricing is done: 20 buildings are catalogued below at unit level with measured walk times. What remains is not research but three things research cannot settle.
First, most of the catalogued inventory will not survive to Nov 1. A large share is marked available now, and landlords do not hold units for seven weeks, so the tables are a pricing baseline rather than a shortlist. The availability pass has to be re-run in early October, when Nov 1 inventory actually posts.
Second, four operators publish no lease term at all, so the 10 to 15 month rule cannot be checked at most of the leading candidates without a call.
Third, the binding constraint is now the date rather than the price. Vacating by 10/31 is contractual and no holdover exists, so anything available after Nov 1 carries the cost of interim housing, and the best-value units found all land in late September and early October.
Next Actions
Sign the lease
- Get current 1BR pricing and concessions; compare on a consistent basis. Done 2026-09-10 for 20 buildings, see Resources below.
- Re-run the availability pass in the first week of October. Most of what is catalogued is available now and will be gone; Nov 1 inventory posts in early October. This is the single highest-value repeat task.
- Call the four operators that publish no lease term and confirm they can do 10 to 15 months: Hendrix (201.516.1800), Silverman (201-435-8000), 245 Newark, Element Flats (201-862-7891)
- Ask Liberty Harbor (201-589-2718) for renewal increase history, and confirm 30 Regent 411 is quoted gross with no concession to unwind. Benchmark against Green Property’s own 3 to 5%
- Decide whether concierge, gym and pool are a requirement or a preference. If required, the in-budget and on-date set collapses to 30 Regent 411 and 235 Grand 1904 / 2604 / 1702
- Decide whether to open the search beyond managed towers. Every building below is one, and residents report brownstones and owner-rented condos 1,500/month cheaper
- Tour the survivors. Provisional list: 235 Grand, 30 Regent, 245 Newark, and Modera Lofts only if the interim-housing gap is acceptable
- Pick a building and unit, apply, sign
Close out current place
-
URGENT: find the renewal offer and check the reject-by date.Resolved 2026-09-10 by reading the documents. The offer is dated 07/23/2026, so clause 4.17 put the deadline at 08/22/2026, which has passed. Non-response is deemed rejection, which is the outcome wanted. The earlier guess of “around Oct 1” assumed a September notice and took the wrong branch of the clause. - Send Green Property a short written confirmation of intent to vacate on 10/31/2026. Not required by the lease, since rejection is automatic, but it removes ambiguity and opens the move-out scheduling conversation.
- Confirm the current term’s end date. Verified 11/01/2025 to 10/31/2026 from the signed lease.
- If any move-in date after Nov 1 is still in play, ask Green Property directly whether a short holdover is possible. The lease gives no right to one and says you must vacate at term end, so treat a yes as a favour rather than an option.
- Email management@greenpropertyllc.com to schedule the move-out
- Get a mover’s certificate of insurance naming 1410 Palisades Avenue LLC and Green Property LLC
- Patch walls, clean, return all keys and fobs ($20-50 charge per unreturned item)
- Deposit return: $4,162.50 due within 30 days after term end with itemized statement
- Set up mail forwarding and update address on accounts
The move
- Pick a move date and book movers (movers need the COI above)
- Declutter before packing
- Utilities: close out at Union City, open at new place
Resources
Buildings considered
Prices are 1BR/1BA averages across units actually available on the verification date, quoted at each building’s 12-month rate so the buildings compare like for like. This matters: most of these sites advertise a “starting from” price that is really a 15 to 24 month rate, so the headline number is not what a 12-month lease costs. Walk times are measured door to door in Google Maps on 2026-09-10, not estimated. Grove St PATH has two entrances about 130 m apart: the primary one on Christopher Columbus Dr just west of Grove St, and a second at Columbus Dr and Marin Blvd, reopened in 2005. Google routes to whichever is nearer, so every time below already reflects the door that building would actually use. The four buildings east of the station (Hendrix, Modera, Lively, Haus25) route to the Marin Blvd entrance; 201 Montgomery and 235 Grand route up Grove St to the primary one. This is why Hendrix is only 358 ft, and it is worth knowing on its own terms: the east entrance is what makes the Warren St and Columbus Dr buildings competitive on PATH access. The six Liberty Harbor rows were added on 2026-09-10 after a price-driven second pass; they are one landlord (Grand Street Property Management, the Mocco family) across six buildings, their quotes do not state a lease term, and their listed prices mix net effective and gross, so the average column is not strictly comparable with the others. Per-building ratings for five of the six were not verified. The three DVORA rows were added on 2026-09-10 and removed from the running the same day (see the DVORA ADR); they stay in the table, struck through, as a record. Their prices are not comparable like for like with the rest of the table: DVORA unbundles amenities from base rent, and its own à la carte list includes washer and dryer, dishwasher, balcony, fitness centre, rooftop pool, concierge and parking. Subscription costs are not published, so the real monthly figure is above the quoted rent by an unknown amount. Establish that on a call before comparing. The Amenities column records only concierge, gym and pool, gathered 2026-09-10. Two buildings charge for them separately: Lively adds a flat $65 a month, and DVORA sells them à la carte per item. Liberty Harbor’s amenities appear to be a shared campus, but only the Zenith and the Regent pages were checked directly, so the other three are marked assumed. The final five rows (Element Flats, 245 Newark, 303-311 First, 18 Park, Sable) close out the Zillow shortlist on 2026-09-10. Element Flats needed a different route: every browser was blocked from its site while curl reached it fine, and the site itself turned out to publish no pricing at all, so its numbers come from two independent listing feeds instead. Each time links to its live walking route. Note the destination has to be given as “Grove Street PATH Station” rather than “Grove St”, which Google resolves to a point half a mile away even though it relabels the station as “Grove St, Jersey City, NJ 07302” once matched.
| Building | Rating | Walk to Grove St | Avg 1BR (12-mo) | Avg sqft | Terms offered | Amenities | Notes | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Hendrix, 180 Morgan St | 4.2 (Birdeye, 1,910) | 2 min, 358 ft | ~$4,553 | not published | single price, term not shown | Concierge 24hr, gym, outdoor pool + hot tub | Pool and gym. Publishes an explicit net rent column, and every unit reads NONE, so zero concessions is confirmed rather than assumed. No sqft anywhere on the site or in the floor plan PDFs, which give room dimensions only. Six 1BRs, all over budget; in-budget only via studio or junior 1BR. | 2026-09-10 |
| The Lively, 321 Warren St | 4.0 (RentCafe, 93) | 4 min, 0.2 mi | $4,146 | 664 | 7 to 18, with gaps | Concierge, gym, pool, but a $65/mo amenities membership fee | Next to Whole Foods. Only 3 units left building-wide, one of them a 1BR. Lines 07 and 12 are gone, so the earlier $3,719 figure is stale. No 22 to 24 month term exists any more, so the half-month concession recorded earlier cannot be taken. | 2026-09-10 |
| Modera Lofts, 350 Warren St | 91.3% rec. (own site, 103) | 5 min, 0.2 mi | ~$4,323 | 840 | 3 to 15 | Concierge 24hr, gym, no pool (pool table only) | Loft conversion, best sqft per dollar on the list. Only building here offering terms under 12 months. Pricing is non-monotonic in term length, so the cheapest term has to be read per unit. | 2026-09-10 |
| 235 Grand, 235 Grand St | 4.0 (RentCafe, 18) | 8 min, 0.3 mi | ~$4,109 | 664 | 12 to 24 | 24hr attended lobby + package concierge, gym w/ barre, outdoor pool | Deepest 1BR inventory at 8 units, but the weakest PATH walk. Pricing is cleanly monotonic: longer term is always cheaper. The advertised floor of $3,815 is a 22-month rate. No specials on any unit at any term, confirmed from the pricing engine. Recently changed management to The Northern Chapter Company, so renewal behavior is unknown. | 2026-09-10 |
| Charles & Co. (201 Montgomery) | 4.9 (Yelp, Silverman mgmt) | 5 min, 0.2 mi | ~$4,888 | 811 | single price, term not shown | Gym only. Roof deck and co-working. No pool, no concierge, and laundry is shared per floor | Silverman’s own office is in the building. Both available 1BRs over budget. Rating is for the management company, not the building. Same landlord has 222 Montgomery 4F at $3,950 / 640 sqft, in budget and a similar walk, but its own page calls it a fully furnished studio with alcove rather than a true 1BR. | 2026-09-10 |
| Haus25, 25 Christopher Columbus Dr | 4.5 (RentCafe, 9) | 4 min, 0.2 mi | ~$5,671 | 754 | 10 to 24 | Concierge, gym, resort-style pool, plus golf sim and bowling | Amenity-heavy 56-story tower, and on measured walk time the second-best PATH access on the list, tied with Lively. Exchange Place is a further 0.3 mi as a red-line-only secondary. All eleven 1BRs are out of reach, the cheapest at any term from 10 to 15 months being 4,000 at a 13 or 14 month term, from 4,310 and up are long-term rates. No concession found, so the earlier “2 months free” note does not hold. | 2026-09-10 |
| 3.5 (RentCafe, 10) | 2 min, 469 ft | $3,545 | 751 | not stated | None of the three. Rooftop deck only, which is why amenities score 2.5 | Out of the running (see the DVORA ADR). Ties Hendrix for the best PATH access found anywhere, at 469 ft. Only one 1BR left. Best 4.72. Smallest review sample of the three, so the 3.5 is weakly evidenced. | 2026-09-10 | |
| 4.0 (RentCafe, 104) | 4 min, 0.2 mi | ~$3,532 | ~545 | not stated | Gym, pool. No concierge listed | Out of the running (see the DVORA ADR). Best-rated DVORA building on the largest sample of any building in this table, which is the clearest evidence against the blanket “avoid DVORA” claim. Five 1BRs, all available now, but the units are small so 5.90 and up. Runs rent specials. | 2026-09-10 | |
| 3.5 (RentCafe, 67) | 5 min, 0.2 mi | $3,775 | 705 | not stated | Concierge 24/7, gym w/ Peloton, rooftop pool. The only DVORA building with all three | Out of the running (see the DVORA ADR). Reviews praise the rooftop and pool, cleanliness and staff. Only one 1BR left, and the priciest DVORA unit. Runs rent specials. | 2026-09-10 | |
| Element Flats, 532 Jersey Ave | not verified | 6 min, 0.3 mi | $3,400 | 663 | not stated | Gym only, plus two rooftop decks. No pool, no concierge | Smallest building considered at 76 units. Both 1BRs are priced at 4.75/sqft. In-unit washer/dryer, rooftop deck, gym. The earlier 750. The building’s own site is a brochure with no pricing or availability at all, and no usable rating exists for it. | 2026-09-10 |
| 245 Newark Avenue, 245 Newark Ave | 4.5 (RentCafe, 14) | 8 min, 0.4 mi | ~$3,428 | 739 | not stated | Gym, pool. Package receiving rather than a concierge | The strongest new find of this pass. Highest building rating in the table, with maintenance at 5.0 and value at 4.5. All five 1BRs are in budget and available now, sizes 675 to 865 sqft. Unit 305 at 865 sqft for /sqft of any true 1BR found outside Liberty Harbor. | 2026-09-10 |
| 303-311 First Street, 303 1st St | 4.0 (RentCafe, 423) | 8 min, 0.4 mi | ~$4,094 | 694 | not stated | None of the three. Garage, elevator and bike storage only | Eight 1BRs, all available now, but only two in budget and the 3,063 to $3,337 for 411 to 438 sqft. The 4.0 is a company rating across 423 reviews, not building specific, same caveat as Lively. | 2026-09-10 |
| 18 Park, 18 Park View Ave | 4.0 (RentCafe, 16) | 9 min, 0.4 mi | ~$3,753 | ~644 | 12 to 24 implied | 24hr attended lobby + package concierge, 24hr gym, outdoor pool + sundeck | Also run by The Northern Chapter Company, the same new operator as 235 Grand, and prices are quoted as ranges in the same way, so the low figure is a long-term rate. Beside the Marin Blvd light rail. Previously passed on; the pricing does not obviously justify that, but nor does it stand out. | 2026-09-10 |
| Sable, 200 Greene St | 4.5 (RentCafe, 7) | 11 min, 0.5 mi (7 min to Exchange Pl) | ~$4,109 | 642 | ranges imply term pricing | Gym, heated pool, roof deck. Concierge unconfirmed | Veris, same operator as Haus25. Fails the Grove St test: its nearest station is Exchange Place, which is Newark-WTC only, so it breaks the dual-line rule the search is built on. Holds the only unit in the entire search available exactly Nov 1 (SAB-1509), but at 529 sqft and $6.88/sqft. Running one month free on move-in by Oct 15, which the Nov 1 target misses. | 2026-09-10 |
| 9 Regent St (The Zenith) | 3.0 (ApartmentRatings, 5) | 10 min, 0.4 mi | ~$3,382 | 720 | not stated | Concierge, gym, access to pool | Liberty Harbor. Best value found anywhere in the search: unit 213 is 871 sqft at 610 cheaper than the best Modera 1BR. 14 one-bedrooms available. That rating scores noise, grounds and safety at 1 out of 5. | 2026-09-10 |
| 30 Regent St (The Regent) | not verified | 11 min, 0.5 mi | ~$3,334 | 668 | not stated | Concierge, gym, rooftop pool | Liberty Harbor. 13 one-bedrooms. Unit 411 at $3,625 for 748 sqft on Nov 10 is the best date-matched option in the whole search and is quoted gross, so it carries no concession cliff. | 2026-09-10 |
| 50 Regent St | not verified | 12 min, 0.5 mi | ~$3,304 | 669 | not stated | Concierge, gym, pool assumed from the shared campus, not verified for this building | Liberty Harbor. 9 one-bedrooms, all 607 to 741 sqft, tightly clustered around 3,400. | 2026-09-10 |
| 333 Grand St | not verified | 12 min, 0.5 mi | ~$3,460 | 671 | not stated | Concierge, gym, pool assumed from the shared campus, not verified for this building | Liberty Harbor. 16 one-bedrooms, the deepest inventory of the group after 88 Regent. | 2026-09-10 |
| 123 River St (The Junction) | not verified | 12 min, 0.5 mi | $3,520 | 674 | not stated | Concierge, gym, pool per CityRealty | Liberty Harbor. Only 31 units in the building and a single 1BR listed, so effectively no choice. | 2026-09-10 |
| 88 Regent St | not verified | 13 min, 0.6 mi | ~$3,841 | 653 | not stated | Concierge, gym, pool assumed from the shared campus, not verified for this building | Liberty Harbor. Largest inventory at 19 one-bedrooms but the priciest and smallest of the group, and the worst walk on the entire list. Subject of the diesel generator episode described below. | 2026-09-10 |
Modera Lofts availability
Every unit available in the building as of 2026-09-10, pulled from the site’s booking flow, which exposes unit numbers, floors, and a full lease-term price matrix that the floor-plan cards hide. Unit links go to the floor plan, since the site gives units no page of their own. Cheapest term is the best rate within the 10 to 15 month window. Terms run 3 to 15 months only; there is no 18 or 24 month option.
| Unit | Plan | Floor | Sqft | 12-mo rent | $/sqft | Cheapest term | Notes | Available |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 426 | A11 1BR | 4 | 815 | $3,795 | $4.66 | $3,795 at 12, 13 or 15 | Only 1BR in budget at a standard term. Best value in the building. | Dec 3 |
| 238 | A05 1BR+den | 2 | 740 | $4,506 | $6.09 | $3,986 at 13 or 14 | Den. $520 swing between the 12 and 13 month rate. | Nov 24 |
| 716 | A02 1BR | 7 | 965 | $4,669 | $4.84 | $4,160 at 14 | Largest 1BR, best sqft per dollar in the search at $4.31. Closest date to Nov 1. | Nov 7 |
| 210 | S02 studio | 2 | 460 | $2,900 | $6.30 | $2,900 at 12, 13 or 15 | Cheapest unit in the building. | Nov 23 |
| 833 | S03 studio | 8 | 446 | $3,038 | $6.81 | $3,038 at 12, 13 or 15 | High floor. | Nov 13 |
| 630 | S03 studio | 6 | 446 | $3,114 | $6.98 | $3,114 at 12 | Earliest date, well before Nov 1. | Sep 24 |
| 810 | S02 studio | 8 | 460 | $3,261 | $7.09 | $2,995 at 11 | 11 month term ends Sep 2027, off the Nov cycle. | Oct 2 |
Two traps in how this building advertises. First, the “starting from” price on a floor-plan card is often a 13 to 15 month rate, not a 12 month one: A02 shows 4,669 at 12 months. Second, S02 and S03 each hold two units, and the card shows the lowest price and the earliest date even when they belong to different units. Pricing is also non-monotonic in term length (A02 costs more at 10 months than at 14), so the term has to be read off the grid per unit. No concession surfaced anywhere in the flow, and the fine print says discounts are calculated at lease execution, so whether these are gross or net is unconfirmed.
235 Grand availability
Every studio and 1BR available as of 2026-09-10, from the building’s own pricing engine. Terms run 12 to 24 months, so only 12 to 15 sit inside the acceptable window and the cheapest term is always 15. Pricing is monotonic, longer is always cheaper, and no unit carries a special at any term. Floor is read off the unit number. Three 2BRs are also available from $5,450 and are out of scope.
| Unit | Plan | Floor | Sqft | 12-mo rent | $/sqft | Cheapest term | Notes | Available |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2312 | 1BR | 23 | 658 | $3,955 | $6.01 | $3,890 at 15 | Cheapest 1BR here, but the latest date. | Dec 6 |
| 1904 | 1BR | 19 | 651 | $3,950 | $6.07 | $3,895 at 15 | Best price and date combination in the building. | Nov 6 |
| 2604 | 1BR | 26 | 651 | $4,020 | $6.18 | $3,965 at 15 | Nov 8 | |
| 1702 | 1BR | 17 | 668 | $4,050 | $6.06 | $3,995 at 15 | Just inside budget at 15 months. | Nov 7 |
| 0423 | 1BR | 4 | 663 | $4,135 | $6.24 | $4,080 at 15 | Low floor. | Nov 7 |
| 4102 | 1BR | 41 | 668 | $4,210 | $6.30 | $4,120 at 15 | High floor. | Oct 7 |
| 0626 | 1BR | 6 | 692 | $4,215 | $6.09 | $4,125 at 15 | Largest 1BR, and the only date that lines up exactly with the Oct 31 lease end. | Oct 31 |
| 4412 | 1BR | 44 | 658 | $4,340 | $6.60 | $4,250 at 15 | Most expensive 1BR. | Oct 18 |
| 1611 | Studio | 16 | 450 | $3,570 | $7.93 | $3,530 at 15 | Cheapest unit in the building. | Nov 4 |
| 3010 | Studio | 30 | 425 | $3,640 | $8.56 | $3,600 at 15 | Smallest unit in the building. | Nov 10 |
| 3911 | Studio | 39 | 450 | $3,735 | $8.30 | $3,695 at 15 | Now | |
| 1113 | Studio | 11 | 610 | $3,785 | $6.20 | $3,720 at 15 | Large studio, better $/sqft than three of the 1BRs. | Oct 7 |
| 2213 | Studio | 22 | 610 | $3,885 | $6.37 | $3,845 at 15 | Nov 15 | |
| 3913 | Studio | 39 | 610 | $4,160 | $6.82 | $4,095 at 15 | Priced above four of the 1BRs. | Oct 7 |
The Lively availability
The whole building as of 2026-09-10, priced for a Nov 1 move-in. The building site hides availability behind a guest login, so this came from the pricing engine behind its RentCafe listing. Terms offered are 7, 8, 9, 12, 17 and 18 months only, so 12 is the sole option inside the window, and the 22 to 24 month terms the previously recorded half-month concession depended on no longer exist. No specials on any unit at any term. A third unit, 2BR+den 0305 at 1,121 sqft and $6,192, is out of scope.
| Unit | Plan | Floor | Sqft | 12-mo rent | $/sqft | Cheapest term | Notes | Available |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0808 | 1BR Line 08 | 8 | 664 | $4,146 | $6.24 | $4,146 at 12 | The only 1BR left in the building. Over budget at every term in the window. | Oct 7 |
| 1611 | Studio Line 11 | 16 | 518 | $3,510 | $6.78 | $3,510 at 12 | Only in-budget unit in the building. | Now |
The Hendrix availability
Whole building as of 2026-09-10 from the site’s own availability table, which uniquely publishes a concessions column and a net rent column. Every unit reads NONE, so gross equals net throughout. The site shows one price per unit with no lease term stated, and publishes no square footage anywhere, including inside the floor plan PDFs, which carry room dimensions only. Unit links open that unit’s floor plan PDF, since the site gives units no page of their own. Floor is read off the unit number. Two 2BRs and a penthouse are also available and out of scope.
| Unit | Plan | Floor | Sqft | Rent (= net) | $/sqft | Cheapest term | Notes | Available |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3206 | 1BR, A-17 | 32 | not published | $4,400 | n/a | not published | Cheapest true 1BR. | Oct 11 |
| 3106 | 1BR, A-17 | 31 | not published | $4,443 | n/a | not published | Same plan as 3206. | Oct 6 |
| 1511 | 1BR, A-13 | 15 | not published | $4,491 | n/a | not published | Date lines up almost exactly with Nov 1. | Nov 2 |
| 207 | 1BR, A-04 | 2 | not published | $4,497 | n/a | not published | 2nd floor. | Nov 6 |
| 1908 | 1BR, A-16 | 19 | not published | $4,650 | n/a | not published | Sep 24 | |
| 1010 | 1BR, A-14 | 10 | not published | $4,835 | n/a | not published | Most expensive 1BR. | Oct 15 |
| 3101 | Junior 1BR, S7-B | 31 | not published | $3,858 | n/a | not published | In budget, but available Sep 13, seven weeks before the target. | Sep 13 |
| 3302 | Junior 1BR, S7-A | 33 | not published | $4,150 | n/a | not published | Over budget for a junior. | Sep 16 |
| 419 | Studio, S-01 | 4 | not published | $3,589 | n/a | not published | Cheapest unit in the building, and the date fits Nov 1 well. | Nov 4 |
| 2502 | Studio, B-2T | 25 | not published | $3,810 | n/a | not published | Top-floor terrace plan. | Oct 6 |
Charles & Co. and other Silverman buildings
From the Silverman rentals page as of 2026-09-10. One price per unit, no lease term shown and no concessions advertised, so the 10 to 15 month rule cannot be checked without a call. Listed here are the Grove St relevant buildings only; Silverman’s Pavonia and Ninth Street buildings sit near Newport and Hamilton Park and fail the PATH criterion. Two Charles & Co. 2BRs and a 3BR are also available and out of scope.
| Unit | Plan | Floor | Sqft | Rent | $/sqft | Cheapest term | Notes | Available |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 222 Montgomery 4F | Majestic Theatre, listed 1BR | 4 | 640 | $3,950 | $6.17 | not published | Only in-budget unit from this landlord, but the listing page calls it a fully furnished studio with alcove, and it is offered furnished only. Not a conventional 1BR. Not currently on the tour list. | Now |
| 201 Montgomery #436 | Charles & Co. 1BR | 4 | 747 | $4,350 | $5.82 | not published | Southern exposure. Best $/sqft of any true 1BR in the search. | Sep 1 |
| 201 Montgomery #634 | Charles & Co. 1BR | 6 | 875 | $5,425 | $6.20 | not published | Sep 1 | |
| 201 Montgomery #343 | Charles & Co. studio alcove | 3 | 537 | $3,550 | $6.61 | not published | Oct 1 |
Haus25 availability
Every studio and 1BR as of 2026-09-10, priced for a Nov 1 move-in from the pricing engine. Terms run 10 to 24 months. Pricing is strongly non-monotonic here, with 15 months sometimes the cheapest option and sometimes by far the most expensive, so the term must be read per unit. No specials on any unit. Four 2BRs and two 3BRs are also available and out of scope.
| Unit | Plan | Floor | Sqft | 12-mo rent | $/sqft | Cheapest term | Notes | Available |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| H25-2013 | A4 1BR | 20 | 745 | $5,390 | $7.23 | $5,093 at 11 | Cheapest 1BR in the building at any acceptable term, and still $1,093 over budget. | Oct 12 |
| H25-4417 | A2 1BR | 44 | 675 | $5,219 | $7.73 | $5,119 at 10 or 15 | Now | |
| H25-2102 | A9 1BR | 21 | 799 | $5,428 | $6.79 | $5,129 at 11 | Best 1BR $/sqft in the building. | Oct 31 |
| H25-5017 | A2 1BR | 50 | 675 | $5,515 | $8.17 | $5,212 at 11 | 15 months costs 5,119 for the same plan on floor 44. | Oct 29 |
| H25-1409 | A14 1BR | 14 | 835 | $5,657 | $6.77 | $5,346 at 11 | Oct 2 | |
| H25-2015 | A11 1BR | 20 | 809 | $5,691 | $7.03 | $5,583 at 10 or 15 | Sep 12 | |
| H25-4312 | A1 1BR | 43 | 665 | $5,908 | $8.88 | $5,583 at 11 | Worst 1BR $/sqft in the building. | Oct 31 |
| H25-4912 | A5 1BR | 49 | 744 | $5,880 | $7.90 | $5,768 at 10 or 15 | Now | |
| H25-4403 | A10 1BR | 44 | 847 | $5,885 | $6.95 | $5,773 at 10 or 15 | Largest 1BR. | Sep 14 |
| H25-5112 | A5 1BR | 51 | 744 | $6,137 | $8.25 | $5,799 at 11 | Most expensive 1BR. | Oct 9 |
| H25-1605 | A7 1BR | 16 | 685 | n/a | n/a | none offered | No price at any term from 10 to 15 for a Nov 1 start. | Sep 28 |
| H25-2406 | S2 studio | 24 | 464 | $3,834 | $8.26 | $3,728 at 14 | Cheapest unit in the building, and in budget. | Oct 30 |
| H25-4002 | S1 studio | 40 | 444 | $3,942 | $8.88 | $3,833 at 14 | In budget at 14 months. | Oct 6 |
| H25-4202 | S1 studio | 42 | 444 | $3,974 | $8.95 | $3,864 at 14 | In budget at 14 months. | Oct 11 |
| H25-3616 | S3 studio | 36 | 466 | $4,012 | $8.61 | $3,901 at 14 | In budget at 14 months, over at 12. | Oct 16 |
| H25-5113 | S4 studio | 51 | 475 | $4,364 | $9.19 | $3,985 at 13 | Best date fit of the in-budget studios. Worst $/sqft in the building. | Nov 10 |
| H25-0501 | S8B studio | 5 | 575 | $4,126 | $7.18 | $4,011 at 14 | Just over budget. Largest studio. | Oct 19 |
| H25-1401 | S8B studio | 14 | 575 | $4,433 | $7.71 | $4,048 at 13 | Nov 9 | |
| H25-2510 | S6 studio | 25 | 548 | $4,669 | $8.52 | $4,263 at 13 | Nov 17 | |
| H25-4113 | S4 studio | 41 | 475 | n/a | n/a | none offered | No price at any term from 10 to 15 for a Nov 1 start. | Dec 30 |
DVORA availability
Removed 2026-09-10 along with the three DVORA buildings; see the DVORA ADR. The best unit had been 109 Columbus 404 at $3,545 for 751 sqft, two minutes from Grove St, available Oct 7.
Other downtown buildings availability
Every 1BR at or under the $4,000 budget across the four buildings closing out the Zillow shortlist, as of 2026-09-10, sorted by value. Element Flats is included from its listing feeds rather than its own site, which publishes no pricing. None of these buildings states a lease term; 18 Park and Sable quote price ranges per unit, which in this search has consistently meant the low figure is a long-term rate rather than a 12-month one.
Over-budget units not listed: 303-311 First has six more 1BRs from 4,508, and Sable has seven more from 4,730.
| Unit | Building | Sqft | Price | $/sqft | Cheapest term | Notes | Available |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 305 | 245 Newark | 865 | $3,786 | $4.38 | not stated | Largest and best-value 1BR found outside Liberty Harbor. | Sep 30 |
| 206 | 245 Newark | 726 | $3,300 | $4.55 | not stated | Now | |
| 306 | 245 Newark | 726 | $3,335 | $4.59 | not stated | Now | |
| A | Element Flats | 716 | $3,400 | $4.75 | not stated | Cheapest 1BR under a 10 minute walk outside Liberty Harbor. | Oct 12 |
| 210 | 245 Newark | 675 | $3,275 | $4.85 | not stated | Cheapest 1BR at this building. | Now |
| 308 | 245 Newark | 701 | $3,445 | $4.91 | not stated | Now | |
| SAB-0403 | Sable | 736 | $3,830 | $5.20 | range quoted | Best value at Sable. | Oct 16 |
| SAB-0402 | Sable | 752 | $4,000 | $5.32 | range quoted | At the budget ceiling exactly. | Sep 19 |
| SAB-1204 | Sable | 736 | $3,955 | $5.37 | range quoted | Oct 21 | |
| L - Loft | Element Flats | 609 | $3,400 | $5.58 | not stated | Same price as the larger A plan, so strictly worse value. | Oct 12 |
| 1031 | 18 Park | 637 to 651 | $3,690 | ~$5.73 | range quoted | Low end of a 4,070 range. | Oct 13 |
| PH18 | 18 Park | 637 to 651 | $3,815 | ~$5.92 | range quoted | Low end of a 4,205 range. | Oct 13 |
| 207 | 303-311 First | 635 | $3,780 | $5.95 | not stated | Now | |
| 205 | 303-311 First | 589 | $3,640 | $6.18 | not stated | Cheapest 1BR at this building. | Now |
| SAB-3103 | Sable | 599 | $3,875 | $6.47 | range quoted | Oct 11 | |
| SAB-5003 | Sable | 599 | $3,935 | $6.57 | range quoted | Oct 2 | |
| SAB-1509 | Sable | 529 | $3,640 | $6.88 | range quoted | The only unit in the entire search available exactly Nov 1, but the second-worst value in this table. | Nov 1 |
| SAB-4609 | Sable | 529 | $3,785 | $7.15 | range quoted | Worst value in this table. | Nov 2 |
Liberty Harbor availability
The best of 72 one-bedrooms listed across the six Liberty Harbor buildings on 2026-09-10, sorted by value, with the Nov 10 cohort appended because it is the only date-matched block in the search. Total inventory is 96 listings, an order of magnitude deeper than any other operator here, and the site says prices change daily.
Read the Basis column carefully. Liberty Harbor is the only operator in this search offering concessions at all, and its footnote states that starred prices are “net effective of concessions offered” with a term that “may be specific”. Comparing their own identical plans priced both ways puts the concession at 10 to 11 percent, so a net effective quote reverts to roughly that much more at renewal before any increase is applied. Gross-quoted units carry no such cliff.
| Unit | Building | Floor | Sqft | Price | Basis | $/sqft | Notes | Available |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 213 | 9 Regent | 2 | 871 | $3,185 | net effective | $3.66 | Best value found anywhere in the search. Bigger than the best Modera 1BR and $610 cheaper. | Now |
| 204 | 9 Regent | 2 | 849 | $3,638 | gross | $4.29 | Large, and no concession to unwind at renewal. | Oct 10 |
| 211 | 30 Regent | 2 | 748 | $3,218 | net effective | $4.30 | in 1 day | |
| 608 | 9 Regent | 6 | 702 | $3,149 | net effective | $4.49 | in 4 days | |
| 712 | 9 Regent | 7 | 731 | $3,286 | net effective | $4.50 | in 1 day | |
| 406 | 30 Regent | 4 | 789 | $3,563 | gross | $4.52 | Oct 10 | |
| 811 | 9 Regent | 8 | 736 | $3,350 | net effective | $4.55 | Now | |
| 512 | 9 Regent | 5 | 731 | $3,323 | net effective | $4.55 | Now | |
| 304 | 50 Regent | 3 | 741 | $3,378 | net effective | $4.56 | in 1 day | |
| 507 | 9 Regent | 5 | 664 | $3,057 | net effective | $4.60 | Cheapest 1BR in the entire search. | in 1 day |
| 802 | 50 Regent | 8 | 667 | $3,130 | net effective | $4.69 | in 3 days | |
| 309 | 333 Grand | 3 | 661 | $3,108 | net effective | $4.70 | Now | |
| 411 | 30 Regent | 4 | 748 | $3,625 | gross | $4.85 | Best date-matched unit in the search. Cheaper and larger than both leading candidates, quoted gross. | Nov 10 |
| 307 | 88 Regent | 3 | 653 | $3,695 | gross | $5.66 | Nov 10 | |
| 1204 | 333 Grand | 12 | 620 | $3,775 | gross | $6.09 | Nov 10 | |
| 1504 | 88 Regent | 15 | 636 | $3,950 | gross | $6.21 | Nov 10 | |
| 2804 | 88 Regent | 28 | 636 | $4,010 | gross | $6.31 | Over budget. | Nov 10 |
| 1210 | 333 Grand | 12 | 743 | $4,065 | gross | $5.47 | Over budget. | Nov 10 |
- Lease documents are filed in Drive under
Housing/1415 Manhattan:lease-2024.pdf,lease-2025.pdf(current term) andlease-renewal-offer-2026.pdfwere added 2026-09-10. The 2022 and 2023 terms were already there asLease.pdfandLease2.pdf. - Signed 2023-24 lease PDF in Drive
Notes
Shortlist verdicts from the September search:
- 90 Columbus (Columbus Collection): unbeatable PATH access, but 4.1 stars with recurring complaints about drafty windows and high electric bills.
- Lenox: called it overrated, but it’s only ~8 min to Grove St and 4.5 stars. Don’t rule out if a good unit appears. Quinn is the weaker sibling (pool leak, appliance complaints).
- Warren at York: Tanay’s rec for the views. Backup at best: dated units, noisy PTACs, thin walls,
30% renewal increase stories, at-market pricing ($3,800) for an older building. Perks are Paulus Hook and Bilt Rewards. - Vantage Collection: vetoed. 3.9 stars, far from PATH, 2026 parking mess.
Resident reports from r/jerseycity, read 2026-09-10
Three threads, roughly 560 comments. Treat as anecdote, but several items are specific enough to act on and two contradict what the note assumed.
- Charles & Co. has no in-unit laundry. A resident says machines are shared, four per floor, two on the half second floor, and describes them as well maintained. Nothing on the listing mentions this. The same resident rates management highly and confirms central AC and a gas stove.
- Modera Lofts has a noise reputation. “Live on the top floor though as noise complaints are common due to the older building.” It is a 1900s warehouse conversion. Relevant because unit 426 is on 4 and 716 is on 7. A second commenter independently describes Modera as “great”, with “larger 1 bedrooms”, and “5 min walking to the path”, which matches the measured 5 min exactly.
- Liberty Harbor draws the strongest negative sentiment of any operator mentioned. “Avoid all Liberty Harbor properties. So many electrical issues. Rent increases are 20% each time.” Another calls the ownership “slumlords masquerading as luxury apartment operators” and cites a diesel generator run 24/7 for six months on River St to keep 88 Regent powered. One dissenting comment calls Quinn and Lenox well managed by the same group. The Zenith is rated 3.0 on ApartmentRatings with noise, grounds and safety each at 1 out of 5.
- DVORA: “Avoid Dvora at all costs.” The comment itself gave no reason, and on ratings alone it did not hold up: 109 Columbus rates 3.5 on 10 reviews, Art House 3.5 on 67, 175 Second 4.0 on 104. Further threads read on 2026-09-10 supplied the substance the comment lacked: DVORA is the 2018 rebrand of Shuster Management, and the complaints converge on its à la carte amenity model. That, rather than the ratings, decided it; see the DVORA ADR. The lesson for the rest of this list is that a star rating can be respectable while the pricing model behind it is the actual problem.
- Silverman and KRE are the two operators spoken well of repeatedly. “Silverman properties are consistently rated high”; “The kre buildings are incredible, clean and run very well”. KRE is 235 Grand and Lively.
- Haus25 “way too expensive”, matching the pricing pass exactly.
- Windsor gets good reports at 120 York St and 115 Morris St, which sits awkwardly against the note’s negative read on Warren at York, also Windsor.
- Gotham: large rooms and reasonable price, but “windows and insulation suck”, electric heat running 500 a month in winter.
- A recurring theme worth weighing against the whole approach: several commenters argue the better value downtown is in brownstones, walk-ups and owner-rented condos rather than managed towers, citing lower renewal increases. Concrete figures given include a 1BR five minutes from Grove at 2,850. Both are far below anything in the tables above.
Decisions
2026-09-10 Anchor the search on Grove Street PATH
Status: decided
Context: Goal is to minimize the Two Sigma commute and the late-night trip home. Downtown JC stations are Grove St, Exchange Place, and Newport; Hoboken terminal was also considered. Grove St is the only downtown JC station served by both the Newark-WTC line and the Journal Square-33rd St line, and both overnight lines (Newark-WTC, and JSQ-33rd via Hoboken) stop there, so there is a no-transfer ride home at any hour from either downtown or the Village/Midtown. Newark-WTC is PATH’s most frequent line (every 4 min at rush by March 2027); as of May 2026, late-night Friday service runs every 20 min instead of 40, and weekend JSQ-33rd service doubled to every 10 min.
Decision: Weight buildings by walk time to Grove St PATH. Current shortlist: Hendrix ~1 min, Lively ~4 min, Modera Lofts ~4 min, 201 Montgomery ~5 min.
Updated 2026-09-10: those four figures were carried over from earlier notes and never measured. Google Maps door-to-door times are now recorded in the buildings table above. The ordering survives, but Hendrix is 2 min rather than 1, Modera is 5 rather than 4, and Haus25 at 4 min is better on PATH access than both Modera and 201 Montgomery, which the original shortlist did not capture.
Alternatives considered:
- Exchange Place: one stop closer to work (~4 min to WTC) but red line only, so late nights not ending near WTC require backtracking. Acceptable secondary (Haus25 sits between both stations).
- Newport: no WTC line at all; work commute strictly worse. Rejected.
- Hoboken terminal: dual-line on paper, but Hoboken-WTC runs every 20 min on weekends, no direct WTC train home overnight (transfer at Grove St), the benefit only holds within a short walk of the terminal, and it restarts the search in a pricier market. Rejected.
Rationale: Dual-line access at Grove St serves both directions of the goal; every alternative sacrifices one direction or adds a transfer.
2026-09-10 Accept 10 to 15 month lease terms and take the cheapest
Status: decided
Context: Every large operator here prices by lease term, and the advertised “starting from” number is almost never the 12-month rate. Modera’s A02 shows 4,669 at 12 months; 235 Grand’s advertised 3,950 at 12. Comparing headline prices across buildings therefore compares different products. A term policy is needed before any of the pricing can be ranked.
Decision: Accept any term from 10 to 15 months inclusive, and within that window take the cheapest rate for a given unit. Terms offered vary by building: Modera runs 3 to 15, 235 Grand 12 to 24, Lively only 7, 8, 9, 12, 17 and 18, Haus25 10 to 24, and Hendrix and Silverman quote a single price with no term shown.
Alternatives considered:
- 12 months only: simplest and keeps the lease anniversary near the current Nov cycle, but forgoes real money. At 235 Grand the 15-month rate is 90 cheaper per month on every unit.
- 18 to 24 months: genuinely cheapest at 235 Grand, where 22 months reaches $3,815. Rejected as too long a commitment for a first move into the neighborhood. Note this also puts the building’s advertised floor out of reach.
- Under 10 months: only Modera offers these, and they are priced punitively (A02 costs 4,160 for 14). Rejected.
Rationale: The 10 to 15 band captures the discount that operators attach to slightly-longer-than-annual terms without committing to a second year. It is also wide enough that most buildings have at least one qualifying option, which keeps the comparison honest.
Consequences: Lease ends drift off the November cycle, and a 15-month term signed for Nov 2026 ends in Feb 2028, in the weaker winter rental market. Worth weighing against the saving when picking the final term. Pricing is not monotonic everywhere: 235 Grand gets cheaper with length in a straight line, but Modera does not, so the cheapest term has to be read off each unit’s own grid rather than assumed.
2026-09-10 Treat net effective and gross quotes as different products
Status: decided
Context: The first six buildings researched carry no concessions at all, verified from their pricing engines rather than inferred, so for them gross equals net and the advertised number is what renewal starts from. The Liberty Harbor pass broke that assumption. Its listings are footnoted “pricing shown is net effective of concessions offered” with a term that “may be specific”, and comparing their own identical floor plans quoted both ways puts the concession at 10 to 11 percent: 9 Regent’s 731 sqft plan is 3,687 gross, 30 Regent’s 628 sqft plan is 3,490, 88 Regent’s 636 sqft plan is 3,950. Residents separately report 20 percent renewal increases from this landlord.
Decision: Compare buildings on gross rent, and treat a net effective quote as gross rent minus a one-year discount that disappears at renewal. Where a net effective and a gross unit are otherwise comparable, prefer the gross one. Record the basis explicitly in every unit table.
Alternatives considered:
- Compare on net effective throughout, which is what the Context section originally called for. Rejected: it was the right rule when concessions were the norm, but it now flatters exactly one landlord, the one with the worst renewal reputation, and understates year-two cost by 10 to 11 percent before any increase.
- Model a two-year total cost. Rejected as false precision, since renewal offers are not published and the 20 percent figure is anecdotal.
Rationale: Stacking an 11 percent concession unwind on a reported 20 percent increase turns a 4,200 in year two, which is outside budget. The headline saving is real for twelve months and substantially illusory after that. Note this does not eliminate Liberty Harbor: several of its units, including 30 Regent 411, are quoted gross and carry no cliff.
2026-09-10 Remove the DVORA buildings from consideration
Status: decided
Context: Three DVORA buildings (109 Columbus, 175 Second, Art House) entered the search after a bare “avoid DVORA” comment failed to check out against ratings of 3.5, 4.0 and 3.5. 109 Columbus unit 404 had become a leading candidate: $3,545 for 751 sqft, a two minute walk, the best PATH access in the search alongside Hendrix. Further r/jerseycity threads read the same day established two things. DVORA is the 2018 rebrand of Shuster Management, founded in 2001 by its current CEO Eyal Shuster (IAC360). And resident complaints converge on the amenity model, which DVORA’s own site confirms: washer/dryer, dishwasher, gym, pool, concierge and parking are sold as subscriptions on top of base rent, at prices it does not publish.
Decision: Remove all three DVORA buildings from consideration. Their rows stay in the buildings table, struck through, as a record; the unit table and the DVORA action items are dropped.
Alternatives considered:
- Keep 109 Columbus and call for subscription pricing. Rejected: the opacity is the problem, not a missing data point, and the building has none of the three amenities that matter anyway (amenities score 2.5).
- Keep 175 Second on the strength of 4.0 across 104 reviews, the largest sample in the search. Rejected: that rating sits alongside a consistent pattern of complaints about the pricing model, and a landlord’s lineage and model outlast any one building’s reviews.
Rationale: Every DVORA rent understates the true monthly cost by an amount that cannot be known in advance, which breaks like-for-like comparison with the rest of the table, and the operator’s history and the volume of negative reports make that a risk not worth pricing.
Consequences: The search loses its best PATH access at an in-budget price. The nearest substitutes are Element Flats plan A (3,300, 726 sqft, 8 min), both with gym, and 245 Newark with a pool. Neither is date-matched to Nov 1, so the decision does not change the near-date shortlist of 30 Regent 411 and 235 Grand.
Related Projects
NJ Transit & PATH Realtime CLI
Journal
2026-09-10 The Advertised Rent Was Never the Twelve Month Rate