English Bulldog Puppies for Sale in Jersey City, NJ

Berkadia announced that it has secured a $35.75 million loan to refinance 829 Garfield, a 110-unit multifamily property with ground-floor retail in Jersey City.

Director Michael Basinski, along with Senior Managing Director Mitch Sinberg, Managing Directors Scott Wadler, Brad Williamson and Matt Robbins of Berkadia Miami and Boca Raton, secured the financing on behalf of the sponsor, Tay Investments, a private equity real estate firm led by Yuval Shram with investments in North America and Europe.

Berkadia originated the Fannie Mae-secured fixed-rate loan with a five-year term.

“The agencies remain committed to supporting high-quality developments that align with their mission of providing liquidity for affordable workforce housing,” said Basinski. “The sponsor delivered an exceptional property, which enabled us to structure optimal financing.”

Built in 2022 at 829 Garfield Ave., the property is a fully stabilized multifamily community featuring a mix of market-rate and 10% affordable apartments, along with 10,100 square feet of ground-floor commercial space. A daycare center occupies approximately 6,100 square feet.

829 Garfield offers two- and three-bedroom floor plans with stainless steel appliances and quartz countertops in kitchens, radiant heated flooring in the bathrooms, walk-in closets, LED lighting, multizone heating & cooling units, private patios and expansive windows with direct views of New York City in some units.

“We are proud to deliver a high-quality building that not only meets the growing demand for affordable housing but also enhances the neighborhood,” said Shram. “Partnering with the agencies is a testament that you can build a sustainable project at affordable rates and demonstrates our commitment to creating lasting value for residents.”

829 Garfield is centrally located in the heart of Bergen-Lafayette, a half block from the Garfield Avenue Light Rail Station, a quick bike ride to Liberty State Park and just minutes from express transportation directly into New York City. The property is situated near the area’s key demand drivers, including the Liberty Science Center, Liberty National Golf Club, Ellis Island Immigration Museum, Downtown Jersey City and New York City, along with Newark International Airport.

Weekend talks between New Jersey Transit and the engineers' union proved successful: a tentative agreement has been reached, signally an end to the first rail strike for the transit system in decades.

The walkout that began Friday was the state’s first transit strike in over 40 years, forcing people who normally rely on New Jersey Transit to take buses, cars, taxis and boats instead or consider staying home. The main sticking point had been how to accomplish a wage increase for the engineers without creating a financially disastrous domino effect for the transit agency.

Regular rail service is expected to resume 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, correcting an earlier announcement that stated trains would move again on Monday.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy's office said service would wait until Tuesday to resume "as it takes approximately 24 hours to inspect and prepare tracks, rail cars and other infrastructure before returning to full scheduled service."

“This agreement reflects the commitment of both the BLET and NJ TRANSIT to remain at the table engaging in productive conversations, and I commend them both. Most importantly, it ensures the resumption of rail service for the 100,000 people who depend on our rail system on a daily basis," Murphy said in a statement.

Neither Murphy nor the engineers' union shared the specific details of the agreement.

“While I won’t get into the exact details of the deal reached, I will say that the only real issue was wages and we were able to reach an agreement that boosts hourly pay beyond the proposal rejected by our members last month and beyond where we were when NJ Transit’s managers walked away from the table Thursday evening,” said Tom Haas, the union's general chairman at NJ Transit.

From Newark to Trenton to Hoboken to Jersey City and all points between, NBC New York covers New Jersey news, weather, traffic and more.

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The statement said the deal would be submitted for a ratification vote by the national union and also require a vote of the New Jersey transit board at its next regularly scheduled meeting June 11.

The walkout preceeded down-to-the-wire negotiations on Thursday that didn't produce an agreement. It triggered the state's first strike in more than 40 years and comes a month after union members overwhelmingly rejected a labor agreement with management.

Union members were nearly unanimous in authorizing a strike last summer, and 87% of them rejected the latest agreement.

Mark Wallace, the union's national president, had said NJ Transit needs to pay engineers a wage that’s comparable to Amtrak and Long Island Railroad because some are leaving for jobs on those other railroads for better pay.

The union had said its members have been earning an average salary of $113,000 a year and it wanted to see an agreement for an average salary of $170,000.

NJ Transit leadership, though, disputed the union’s data, saying the engineers have average total earnings of $135,000 annually, with the highest earners exceeding $200,000.

The union has seen steady attrition in its ranks at NJ Transit as more members leave to take better-paying jobs at other railroads. The number of NJ Transit engineers has shrunk from 500 several months ago to about 400. The engineers are responsible for operating trains, ensuring safe and smooth transport between stations.

NJ Transit is the nation’s third-largest transit system and operates buses and rail in the state, providing nearly 1 million weekday trips, including into New York City. The walkout halts all NJ Transit commuter trains, which provide heavily used public transit routes between Penn Station on one side of the Hudson River and communities in northern New Jersey on the other, as well as the Newark airport, which has grappled with unrelated delays of its own recently.

While the trains are suspended, commuters still have a few options when it comes to getting around New Jersey. NBC New York's Adelle Caballero reports.

In the Hoboken and Jersey City area, there’s never a dull weekend, especially during the warmer months. This weekend, locals can enjoy all kinds of fun things to do, including a Jersey City moms’ meetup, a high school production of Newsies, and an art gallery tour. Below is the list of (over 180!) Hoboken + Jersey City events happening this weekend, May 15th through May 18th, 2025. Don’t forget — you can also submit your events to our community guide HERE.

Disclaimer: This is a community resource. Submit events HERE and view the full calendar HERE. The Hoboken Girl is not affiliated with hosting unless explicitly stated.

Il Tavolo di Palmisano 700 Clinton Street, Hoboken

Enjoy martini flights at IlTavolo di Palmisano. Three full-size martins for $28 from 4:00-6:30PM every weekday and all day on Wednesdays. Hand-crafted martini options include espresso martinis, raspberry limoncello martinis, + more, a beautiful + friendly atmosphere, and an overall good experience.

SWTHZ 725 River Road Suite #19, Edgewater

SWTHZ Edgewater is officially open + booking intro sessions. Book a $50 intro session to experience the infrared sauna, cold plunge, and Vitamin C shower in a private luxury suite for 60 minutes — you can also bring a guest for $30.

Lincoln Harbor Park Weehawken

Wednesday — May 21st at 3PM-7PM

Browse 30+ vendors and enjoy live music, giveaways, + free fitness classes at this new weekly farmers’ market. Markets alternate weekly between Lincoln Harbor + Hamilton Park through 11/26, and are curated by SocietyX.

Dorrian’s Red Hand 555 Washington Street, Jersey City

Thursday — May 15th at 8:45PM Friday — May 16th at 7:30PM + 9:45PM Saturday — May 17th at 6:30PM + 9PM

Enjoy five comedy shows this week, hosted by Alex Quow + Spencer Wright plus comedians from America’s Got Talent, Boston Comedy Fest, Adult Swim, and more. Show tickets are $25 for all shows plus a 2-item minimum per person + 20% gratuity.

TLG’s Wedding Directory is celebrating its 5-year anniversary, and is a way for locals to find highly recommended vendors for all wedding festivities — from photography + videography to beauty + wellness to fashion, fitness, and florals. The directory is searchable by region, and many vendors will travel throughout NJ.

This 2-bed, 1-bath condo in Jersey City is available to buy for $549,000. The property features a hardwood floors, plaster ceilings, French doors, and ample closet space, among other things.

View The Local Girl’s Real Estate Directory here — which has 90+ listings just this week.

The proposed merger between Kean University and New Jersey City University took a big step forward Thursday as the two public universities formally agreed to move to unite their schools.

The presidents of both public universities met at Kean Hall in Union County to sign a preliminary agreement to merge.

Under the deal, New Jersey City University would be renamed Kean Jersey City. Kean University’s name would remain unchanged.

The tentative deal, known as a letter of intent, is subject to regulatory and accreditation approvals, along with a final agreement between the two universities.

“By coming together, we are creating a stronger, more resilient public higher education system that meets the needs of New Jersey’s students and communities. Together, Kean and NJCU reaffirm our responsibility as anchor institutions to uplift and empower the people we serve,” said Kean president Lamont Repollet, the state’s former education commissioner.

Kean University enrolls approximately 17,000 students while New Jersey City University has 5,500 students, officials said previously.

It could take up to 24 months to complete a merger, Kean’s president said in March after New Jersey City University’s Board of Trustees started the process by accepting Kean’s proposal.

New Jersey City University —a nearly century-old higher education institution in Hudson County — has been in a financial crisis for years. The merger with Kean is designed to enable the Jersey City school to continue operating.

Kean would assume New Jersey City University’s assets and liabilities, under the deal. Kean would also appoint a chancellor to lead Kean Jersey City while assuming executive oversight of the campus.

New Jersey City University students would become students of Kean University, school officials said.

“Through a collaborative process rooted in student and community engagement, I’m confident we will unite our campus communities in a way that celebrates our distinct cultures and builds a more vibrant, inclusive and innovative university for the next century,” said Andrés Acebo, New Jersey City University’s interim president.

New Jersey City University was assigned a monitor by the state in 2023 and directed to identify a potential university partner. School officials explored a possible merger with Montclair State University before proceeding with Kean.

“The State is pleased to see New Jersey City University and Kean University take this important step toward a strategic merger,” state Secretary of Higher Education Brian Bridges said.

An integration planning team with representatives from both universities will begin coordinating the merger with Bridges’ office, a process that could include shared services agreements between the schools, officials said.

Neither university has said whether a merger might result in staffing cuts.

The partnership would preserve New Jersey City University’s role in serving first-generation, adult and historically underserved students, officials said. It also would enhance Kean’s recent designation as an R2 research university, a designation reserved for doctoral universities with high research activity.

Kean Jersey City would be the latest expansion for Kean, which was founded in 1855 as the Newark Normal School. It became the New Jersey State Teacher’s College in 1937 and Kean College in 1973 before becoming a university in 1997.

Kean University is headquartered in Union County. Its main campus is in Union Township, with additional locations in Hillside and Elizabeth.

Kean also has an Ocean County campus, called Kean Ocean, in Toms River. In 2019, it opened Kean Skylands in Jefferson in Morris County.

Overseas, Kean University has a large, degree-granting campus in China through a partnership with Wenzhou University.

Kean has about three times as many as New Jersey City University. Kean held its 2025 commencement on Tuesday for 3,500 graduates and undergraduates.

New Jersey City University was founded in 1927, became a college in 1935 and was granted university status in 1998. Its commencement ceremony is on May 28.

Luke Visconti, chair of New Jersey City University’s Board of Trustees, said the board “is optimistic that the collaborative dialogue over the coming weeks and months will yield a partnership model that honors the unique strengths and traditions of both institutions while creating a stronger, more resilient university that better serves our students and communities.”

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Rob Jennings may be reached at rjennings@njadvancemedia.com.

Over 350,000 commuters rely on New Jersey’s mass transit system, and many more use it to get to NYC, Metlife Stadium, Atlantic City, and the shore. Now we face the possibility that this Friday a labor strike by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) will shut down the railroad, rendering New Jersey simply unable to conduct normal business.

Recently, the negotiations between the BLET and New Jersey Transit have shifted to the public eye. NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri has launched attacks in the media against the BLET, punching down on public-sector workers in ways not seen since the days of Chris Christie. Kolluri’s rhetoric has characterized the actions of the BLET as wrong and unfair. “I’ll be damned if this system will be held hostage,” Kolluri said. “It’s not fair, it’s not reasonable.”

The people of New Jersey ought to be outraged–at Kolluri. He has resorted to deceiving and misleading the public, for what should be a routine contract negotiation.

NJ Transit’s engineers are the lowest-paid in any passenger railroad in the area. Amtrak pays almost $16 per hour more. The PATH, Long Island Railroad, and Metro-North all pay over $10 more per hour than NJ Transit. New Jersey’s engineers have been working under a contract which expired in 2019, without a raise since. Inflation has meanwhile sapped 24% of the dollar’s buying power since January of 2020.

This is in part because the law places many obstacles before “essential” workers in contract negotiations, which prevent them from striking until after many stages of negotiation. There are multiple rounds of mediation and cooling-off periods. It takes years. Striking is never the first option, but many NJ Transit workers consider these requirements an infringement on Americans’ hard-won collective bargaining rights.

For most of the five years since the old contract expired, the railroad had all the leverage. But NJ Transit seems to have never made an offer which keeps pace with inflation–in fact, it still hasn’t.

According to a NJ Transit employee who wishes to remain anonymous, there were times when years passed without a counteroffer from NJ Transit. Whether this was a negotiation tactic, or simply kicking the can down the road, is unclear. But plainly, this is not a case of greedy workers. Any reasonable counter offer would have been preferable to 2019 wages in 2025. But the railroad sat back, knowing the engineers couldn’t strike, content to exploit underpaid train engineers through covid, and through years of brutal inflation.

Finally, in March of this year, the BLET would be allowed by law to strike. And at the eleventh hour, the head of the BLET local, Tom Haas, reached a handshake agreement with Kolluri. But that agreement could become a contract only if approved by the membership. And a large majority of engineers–87%–voted no. That Haas agreed to terms with Kolluri seems to suggest that NJ Transit made a reasonable offer. But the offer was only marginally better than what Transit had offered years before. And there are reasons why Haas might accept a deal which he knew his union members would probably reject; that could lock in a marginally better agreement if workers did go on strike and were ordered to go back to work by federal intervention.

What to believe?

Two weeks ago, Kolluri gave a performance which speaks volumes. In a 26-minute press conference, he engaged in shameless demagoguery, attempting to stoke resentment from the public. “I am not the one calling for a strike,” he said, as if employers are the ones that go on strikes. He characterized a labor strike–the hard-won right of US workers–as an attempted extortion, saying train engineers would be holding New Jersey hostage. He made no mention of the five years the engineers couldn’t strike.

Kolluri engaged in distortions and outright lies. He claimed engineers are seeking $190,000 a year–they currently make $89,000. He claimed the number the BLET is seeking was not a middle class wage. He claimed the average person in New Jersey makes $77,000. He did not mention his own salary. Nor whether the average person in New Jersey can afford rent, a home, or a savings account. He said this raise would result in a 17% fare hike, despite the fact that New Jersey routinely fills budget gaps without raising fares.

He rattled off a list of passenger railroads in financial straits, invoking the phrase “death spiral.” The assertion that a routine contract negotiation might result in the end of New Jersey’s commuter railroad seems an astonishing admission that NJ Transit’s leadership lacks basic competence. But he did not mention the discount on labor that NJ Transit has received for five years of engineers’ stagnant salary.

He attempted to appear very concerned for New Jersey’s working families, while simultaneously demonizing the specific workers now in line for a long-overdue raise. New Jersey Transit’s engineers constitute 4% of its workforce, and their salaries an even smaller fraction of its budget. You can be sure the BLET’s demands are reasonable because New Jersey’s train engineers don’t get paid to strike.

As for Kolluri and the executives running NJ Transit, it is a massive red flag that they have devoted so much energy to a smear campaign against 4% of its essential employees. If the engineers should strike, let’s ignore the CEO’s scapegoating and let’s stand with workers.

Tagged: Jersey City Opinion