The Jersey City Planning Board voted 5-2 in favor of a 56-story skyscraper in Journal Square known as the Imperial Tower about five weeks after the plan was carried.
The proposal calls for 542 residential units, with 11 percent as affordable housing, 154 hotel rooms, a garage, two restaurants, a banquet hall, and two retail stores. The roof will have many amenities, so it counts as the 56th story – making it over 600 feet tall.
Project attorney Chuck Harrington noted it was approved initially at 35 stories. He explained it was enlarged to take advantage of a newer law to create affordable housing in Journal Square by allowing larger towers.
“It would include … 11 percent affordable housing units at 63,” Harrington stated, noting it initially had none…