Downtown Jersey City's Grocery Run Just Moved Across the Street. Here's What Else Is New This Fall

At 6 p.m. on Tuesday, October 13, the ShopRite at Metro Plaza closed for good. At 7 a.m. the next morning, its replacement opened across the street. Patch reported that the gap between the last checkout at the old store and the first at the new one was one night.

The short distance hides a large change. The old store was part of Metro Plaza's big-box layout with surface parking. The new one, ShopRite of Hudson Exchange, sits on the second floor of Everton, a 60-story residential tower at 99 Provost Street. That tower is the second phase of a plan to turn 18 acres of parking and retail into a grid of streets around a central park. The first phase was VYV, two 36-story apartment buildings. For anyone who shops Downtown, the most routine errand of the week now runs through the middle of the neighborhood's biggest planned redesign.

Upstairs, and 20,000 Square Feet Bigger

Inserra Supermarkets built an 85,000-square-foot store, which Jersey Digs reported is about 20,000 square feet larger than the Metro Plaza location it replaced. It's open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day and includes a liquor store.

Patch listed the departments inside:

• Patsy's Butcher Shop for meat counter service
• Antoinette's Kitchen for prepared meals, with a hot bar and a soup bar
• A bake shop, produce, seafood and deli departments
• A registered dietitian who offers nutrition counseling

Because the store is on the second floor, getting in takes a new routine. Parking is ticketless through a mobile app, on two parking decks. Shoppers move between levels on four passenger elevators and three escalators, and two cart movers carry loaded carts between floors. The store also has Caper Carts. Walk-in shoppers reach the market from street level by elevator or escalator. People coming from the garage or the residential towers have their own way in.

Developer G&S Investors names Harsimus Cove as the nearby Light Rail station and says the Newport and Grove Street PATH stations are within walking distance. For anyone who walks to the store, the bigger change is going up a floor. The trip across Provost Street is the easy part.

The Building Is Becoming the Errand

The supermarket is the first retailer open at Everton, but it won't be the only one. NJBIZ reported that the tower has 802 apartments and 115,000 square feet of retail space. Several more tenants are lined up for the space around ShopRite.

Modcup is the tenant with the deepest local roots. Jersey Digs traced its history from a coffee cart in Hoboken to a 1969 Citroën truck parked at Exchange Place. From there it opened a café on Palisade Avenue in the Heights, a roasting site at 25 Senate Place, a shop on Fourth Street in Hoboken, and a fourth location at 360 Communipaw Avenue. Its Everton lease covers a café and a larger roastery built around a 35-kilogram Loring roaster. The company was founded in 2013. The move brings a brand that began on a truck at Exchange Place back to within a few blocks of that spot, this time with a full production setup.

Once these tenants open, a single trip to 99 Provost could include groceries, coffee, a child's swim lesson and dinner. Metro Plaza's layout of a store set back behind its parking lot never supported that kind of stop.

What the Old Parking Lot Is Supposed to Become

The groundwork for Everton dates to 2022. On October 25, 2022, Jersey City's Planning Board voted 7–0 to approve case P22-097, the Block 3 project at 420 Marin, with conditions. The board's action notice describes 802 apartments, retail, public open space, a Sixth Street plaza and new roads.

The full Hudson Exchange plan is much bigger. Jersey Digs described the 18-acre site as a connected street grid with a central green space and several redevelopment parcels. At full buildout, the plan has been described as roughly six million square feet with 5,500 homes. When Everton broke ground in 2023, NJBIZ reported that this phase would include more than 20,000 square feet of publicly accessible green space. That space includes plazas and a dog park along Marin Boulevard, designed to connect to the planned Sixth Street Embankment park.

Those public spaces are part of the approved design. The reporting on the tower's October opening did not say they are open yet. The former ShopRite building is in a similar position. The master plan map shows it demolished at some point. However, Jersey Digs reported that G&S Investors and its partners have not said what comes next for that space. No demolition date or schedule for the next phase has been announced.

The supermarket moved first, so the old store's site can eventually be redeveloped. Abe Naparstek, a principal at G&S Investors, told Jersey Digs the project delivers on "our long-standing commitment that ShopRite, an essential amenity for downtown Jersey City, stays open for generations to come." In practice, Downtown lost its grocery store for one night, and the old location is now free for whatever comes next.

The Rest of the Fall, Within Walking Distance of Provost Street

The new store is open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day, and a few other recent openings Downtown fit around that schedule.

Forum Coffee opened at 200 Greene Street, a few blocks south toward Exchange Place. Jersey Digs listed its hours as 6 a.m. on weekdays and 7 a.m. on weekends. That puts it among the earliest coffee stops in the neighborhood until Modcup's Everton café opens.

House of Amrut is at 136 Newark Avenue, the far end of the evening from a 6 a.m. coffee. It's a tasting room for Indian whisky, served with Indian food pairings, and it's open Thursday through Saturday from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m., according to Jersey Digs.

Dutch's Sandwich Shop is planned for 270 Grand Street, in the former Cafe Dolma space. Jersey Digs reported on October 19 that it's expected to open next year, which means 2027.

The neighborhood's calendar from now through mid-December centers on the Newark Avenue Pedestrian Mall and Grove Street PATH Plaza, both a short walk from Everton:

1. Halloween Family Bash, Saturday, October 31, 12 p.m. to 8 p.m., on the Newark Avenue Pedestrian Mall and Plaza. The Historic Downtown SID lists games, a corn maze, face painting, pumpkins, a bouncy house and a "Terror Tavern" for adults.
2. PS 37 Annual Fun Run, Saturday, November 14, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., in Hamilton Park. The Hamilton Park Neighborhood Association calendar notes the event is pending a city permit.
3. Christmas Tree and Menorah Lighting, Tuesday, December 1, 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., on the Newark Avenue Pedestrian Mall, according to JCFamilies. Whole Spectrum Autism is holding a toy pickup during the lighting at 6:30 p.m.
4. Happy Holiday Market, December 5–6 and 12–13, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., at Grove Street PATH Plaza and on The Ashford rooftop, per the Historic Downtown SID.

Going to the holiday market on a December weekend now puts the grocery stop on the same walk. Provost Street to Grove Street PATH Plaza is a few blocks, and the store stays open until 11 p.m., well after the market closes at 6.

What to Watch at 99 Provost Over the Winter

Three things at Everton are still to come: Modcup's opening date, the openings of Goldfish Swim School and the Izakaya Kumade team's restaurant, and the first public green space along Marin Boulevard. Each one adds another reason to stop at the building where Downtown now buys its groceries. The last piece is the announcement of what replaces the old Metro Plaza store, and that will show how much of the 18-acre plan is actually coming next.

If you own a home near Hudson Exchange and want to know how a new anchor store and a planned street grid fit into your building's long-term picture, the Hudson Gold Team follows these Downtown blocks closely and is glad to talk it through. Contact Us.