Jersey City Bar Closes for Nasser Freres' 55-Story Tower

A 90-year-old liquor store in Jersey City’s Journal Square is closing its longtime storefront to make way for a 55-story residential tower, a direct trade of a small, decades-old business for the market’s largest approved high-rise.

Why it matters

Boulevard Drinks, a liquor store and bar on Kennedy Boulevard in Jersey City for more than 90 years, is closing at that location on November 30. Owner Victor Victoratos is relocating the business across the street into roughly 500 sq ft inside the Journal Square Transportation Center, aiming to reopen early next year. The move clears the storefront for 2859-2873 JFK Boulevard, where developer Nasser Freres has Jersey City Planning Board approval, confirmed by project architect Handel Architects, for a 55-story residential tower. It is one of the clearest small-business-versus-high-rise displacements the Journal Square submarket has produced this cycle, and it lands as Nasser Freres’ financing is already in place.

The numbers

The approved tower will rise just over 588 feet with 840 residential units, 84 of them designated affordable. The ground floor is planned for close to 50,000 sq ft of retail anchored by a Whole Foods, plus roughly 36,500 sq ft of amenity space. Walker & Dunlop arranged a $375 million floating-rate, interest-only construction loan from Madison Realty Capital for the project, announced June 22, 2026. Nasser Freres is targeting delivery in early 2029. The Planning Board approval for the site, at 2861 Kennedy Blvd per Handel Architects’ own announcement, was confirmed April 21, 2026, roughly two months before the loan closed.

What’s next

Boulevard Drinks’ Kennedy Boulevard storefront closes November 30, with the Journal Square Transportation Center location targeted for an early 2027 reopening. Demolition and construction timing on the tower site have not been disclosed. With financing closed and a 2029 delivery target set, the next visible marker will be a demolition or excavation permit filing for 2859-2873 JFK Boulevard. Operators tracking Journal Square should expect the retail podium, not just the residential count, to shape leasing competition once Whole Foods’ lease terms become public.

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