Inside the transformation of stunning 19th-century church into luxury apartments

A historic church in Jersey City is being transformed from its humble beginnings as a parish for poor Irish immigrants into a sleek, modern apartment building.

St. Lucy’s Roman Catholic Church, which closed in 1985, is undergoing a transformation that will preserve portions of its historic structure while adding a 24-story glass tower with 444 apartments. The new high-rise will rise above the church’s early 1900s brick and brownstone masonry.

Stained glass windows from the church will be incorporated into the building’s lobby.

The church doors will continue to serve as the main entrance, and the wrought iron fence will remain. The 145-foot bell tower is being preserved, the church bell will be displayed in the lobby, and the facade of two walls will stay intact.

The preservation component has made the project more complicated. Demolition was surgical. Temporary walls had to be erected to shore up the parts of the church that were kept while additions were going on around them.

“We’re paying homage to the church and rectory,” said Victor Cividini, executive vice president of residential construction at SJP Properties. “It’s different from a development standpoint. It’s responsible. You’re preserving the historic elements and you’re … bridging that gap with the new generation of housing.”

Work at the site began in September 2025. This week, the 16th floor was being poured, Cividini said. The building is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2028, he said.

It will have 431 market-rate rentals consisting of studios, one-bedroom, one-bedroom-with-a-den and two-bedroom units. And there will be 13 affordable one-bedroom, one-bedroom-with-a-den and three-bedroom apartments.

The Lucy will also have a rooftop pool, sky lounge, sundeck and a penthouse bar all with views of the New York City skyline and the Statue of Liberty.

It will also have co-working and conference rooms, a fitness center, media and game rooms, a hydroponic garden, multiple lounges with fireplaces — and a speakeasy tucked inside the bell tower.

The property is being developed by Claremont Development and Battery Global Advisors, with equity partner PCCP. It was designed by Michael Graves Architecture, and the interiors are being designed by Mary Cook Associates. Construction is being led by KL Masters Construction Company, based in Harrison.

St. Lucy’s parish was established to serve the growing population of poor Irish immigrants who came to the area around the turn of the 20th century. The first church building was constructed in 1884 in Jersey City’s Horseshoe Section, according to Preservation New Jersey, which added St. Lucy’s to its list of endangered historic places in 2018.

The parish later purchased land on Grove Street and built a school, the church and the rectory all with Romanesque revival elements.

When the Holland Tunnel was built in the 1920s, it displaced many of St. Lucy’s parishioners and brought more industry to the area. But the church had a rebirth when a statue of Saint Jude, the patron saint of impossible causes, was erected in 1932 and made it a destination for people from surrounding towns and New York City.

The school was converted into a homeless shelter in 1986, and as part of the redevelopment of St. Lucy’s property, the developers had to build a brand new 60,000-square-foot facility across the street to allow St. Lucy’s to continue providing housing and support services to people experiencing homelessness. It opened in September 2023.

The statue of St. Jude was moved to the new shelter.