The Journal by Woods Bagot and 1159 debuts in Jersey City, after achieving controversial EB-5 program financing

The Journal, a high-rise residential complex by Woods Bagot, is now complete in Jersey City, New Jersey. The complex consists of two 64-story towers perched above a podium: Tower One and Tower Two. Atlanta–based 1159 designed the interiors, and Kushner Companies was the developer.

Renderings of the Journal were released in 2021. Construction on the $1 billion project started in 2022, when it was still going by the name One Journal Square. Tower One opened in 2024, and Tower Two debuted more recently in 2025.

Today, the Journal has 1,723 rental residences—ranging from studios to three bedrooms—and 40,000 square feet of retail space spread across the towers.

The podium rises 10 stories, and the overall tower 52 stories. (Courtesy Kushner)

The development has been marred from the start by scrutiny. After acquiring the property in 2015, Kushner Companies initially sought to attain $150 million of project financing for the Journal through the controversial EB-5 investor visa program, as reported by AN in 2017.

The EB-5 program was launched in 1990. It was at first meant to help bring investment to impoverished urban and rural communities from foreign investors, but overtime it was used for luxury construction, as was the case at Hudson Yards. The Journal was approved for EB-5 financing by the federal government last June, after Tower One finished.

interview view of the journal
Interiors were designed by 1159. (Courtesy Kushner)

Concerns over nepotism in relation to the approval were raised in the press last summer, based on Kushner’s familial relationship to President Trump.

Former Kushner Companies CEO Jared Kushner currently advises President Trump on foreign policy in the Middle East and, with Steve Witkoff, recently shared Project Sunrise, a $112 billion plan to transform the bombed out Gaza Strip into a resort destination. (Witkoff’s real estate group also recently completed a tower in Brooklyn.)

residential amenity at the journal
The Journal has ample residential amenities. (Courtesy Kushner)

Today, the Journal is the fourth tallest building in Jersey City. It is nearly equidistant from the Hudson and Hackensack Rivers near the Journal Square PATH Station. A public plaza enhances the street level. The podium rises 10 stories above grade, and the total height is 710 feet, or 52 stories.

Woods Bagot said the Journal enhances Jersey City’s public sphere with ample amounts of open space, populated by trees and plantings. Placemaking is meant to help “revitalize” the neighborhood. Designers called the project “a people-centric tower from square to sky.”

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