Exchange Place, Jersey City

Exchange Place
Company type	Neighborhood
Industry	Financial services, Transportation
Headquarters	Jersey City, United States
Area served	Downtown Jersey City, New Jersey
Products	Office and residential buildings, transportation services

Exchange Place is a neighborhood located in Downtown Jersey City, New Jersey, frequently referred to as Wall Street West because of its dense concentration of financial institutions. This district is centered around a plaza approximately 200 feet in length at the base of Montgomery Street, situated along the Hudson Waterfront on the banks of the Hudson River. Formed through land reclamation along the Paulus Hook shoreline, Exchange Place has functioned as a significant transportation nexus since colonial times.

Vicinity

Exchange Place features a skyline dominated by towering office and residential structures and has eclipsed Journal Square since the 1990s as the premier commercial hub of Hudson County and a vital component of the revitalized Port of New York and New Jersey waterfront. The Mack-Cali building within this area serves as a nesting site for peregrine falcons. The district includes a segment of the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway, which runs adjacent to J. Owen Grundy Park, extending into the Hudson River.

The Katyń Memorial, crafted by Polish-American sculptor Andrzej Pitynski, represents the first monument in the United States dedicated to victims of the Katyn massacre. In 2018, Holocaust survivor Edward Mosberg appealed to Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop to preserve this memorial, highlighting its importance for Holocaust commemoration.

Located south of Exchange Place are the New York Waterway Paulus Hook Ferry Terminal along with New Jersey's two tallest skyscrapers: the Goldman Sachs Tower (30 Hudson Street) and 99 Hudson Street. The prominent Colgate Clock, touted by Colgate-Palmolive as the largest globally, faces Manhattan’s Battery Park. This clock, measuring 50 feet in diameter with a minute hand weighing 2,200 pounds, was installed in 1924, replacing an earlier smaller model now housed in Jeffersonville, Indiana. The riverfront promenade offers panoramic views of Lower Manhattan and extends along the Morris Canal Little Basin within Liberty State Park. To the north is the former warehouse structure that now accommodates the Harborside Financial Center.

History

As early as July 1764, ferry service operated between Paulus Hook and Mesier's dock at Courtland Street's foot (the future site of the Cortland Street Ferry Depot and today’s Battery Park City Ferry Terminal). The inaugural steam ferry service in the New York Harbor was launched in 1812 by Robert Livingston (1746-1813) and Robert Fulton, connecting Paulus Hook with Manhattan’s Cortlandt Street. This ferry dock linked directly to a major highway to Newark established in 1795, influencing where the New Jersey Railroad placed its terminus upon opening in 1838; this rail line ran from the ferry terminal through Newark to New Brunswick. After acquiring ferry operations in 1853, the railroad constructed a larger intermodal terminal in 1858. When purchased by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1871, this terminal underwent multiple replacements between 1876 and 1892 to facilitate smooth transfers between trains and ferries. The railroad designated this location as Jersey City or occasionally as the Pennsylvania station.

Local streetcar systems began using "Exchange Place" to identify this area more precisely. Starting with horse-drawn cars in 1860, these lines connected the ferry terminal with nearby neighborhoods and towns. An off-street terminal named "Exchange Place" was established near the Pennsylvania Railroad station in 1891 to provide convenient ferry access. In 1901, land privately owned by PRR was transferred to municipal control.

The Hudson and Manhattan Railroad inaugurated tunnels linking Exchange Place to New York City in 1910. Initially called "Pennsylvania Railroad Station," by 1916 it incorporated "Exchange Place" into its name, and by 1926 it was simply known as "Exchange Place." Despite Pennsylvania Railroad's initial resistance to renaming, by the 1920s both stations and their surrounding neighborhood were commonly referred to as Exchange Place.

For many years, Exchange Place functioned as a terminus for numerous trolley routes throughout Hudson County, including lines originating from Newark’s Public Service Terminal and Paterson’s Broadway Terminal. Over ten routes operated by the Public Service Railway began or ended here until buses replaced trolleys by 1949.

Ferry operations ceased in 1949, while Pennsylvania Railroad service diminished following New York’s opening of Penn Station in 1910, ending completely in 1962. Subsequently, the large terminal was demolished, creating open waterfront space that facilitated redevelopment during the 1960s and 1970s. The designation "Exchange Place" endured due to ongoing operations at the Hudson and Manhattan station (PATH) since 1962 and bus route signage substituting former trolley lines.

Since 2000, trolley service has resumed through the Hudson–Bergen Light Rail, while ferry service was reinstated at Paulus Hook Ferry Terminal by NY Waterway. Exchange Place continues to serve as an important terminal for various New Jersey Transit and private bus routes.

PATH

The PATH system links Exchange Place to several key locations: eastbound to the World Trade Center, northbound to Hoboken Terminal, and westbound toward Journal Square and Newark Penn Station.

HBLR

The district is served by three Hudson–Bergen Light Rail stops: Harborside Financial Center, Essex Street, and Exchange Place. These stations provide convenient connections to PATH and ferry options.

Paulus Hook Ferry Terminal

Originally launched in 1764 as the Jersey City Ferry, the historic ferry route was discontinued in the 1960s but reinstated in 1986. Currently, ferry operations are managed by New York Waterway and Seastreak, facilitating travel between major business districts across the Hudson River.

Company	Route	Destination	Notes
NY Waterway	West Midtown Ferry Terminal Midtown Manhattan	Pier 79 West Side Highway - West 39th St Javits Center	Complimentary transfers to Manhattan "loop" bus services
	Battery Park City Ferry Terminal at World Financial Center	Hudson River Park near Vesey Street Battery Park City	Paid connections available to NYC Ferry, NY Waterway, Liberty Landing Ferry, and Seastreak lines
	Wall Street	Pier 11 South Street, south of South Street Seaport	Paid transfers to NYC Ferry, NY Waterway, and Seastreak routes
Seastreak	Belford Raritan Bayshore in Monmouth County	Route passes through The Narrows & Upper New York Bay

Bus

Route	Destination	Key Stops
1 limited service NJT	Newark-Ivy Hill via Newark-Ironbound and Downtown Newark	West Side Lincoln Highway–Kearny Point Ferry Street/Raymond Boulevard Market Street
9 NJT	Country Village	Grove Street Station Van Vorst Park McGinley Square West Side Avenue Danforth Avenue or Journal Square (limited service)
64 NJT	Lakewood	Newport Centre Mall, Hoboken, Lincoln Harbor, Freehold, Old Bridge, Georgian Court University
68 NJT	Old Bridge	South River, Newport Centre Mall, Hoboken, Lincoln Harbor
80 NJT	Greenville along Old Bergen Road	Newark Avenue Five Corners India Square JSQ West Side Avenue Danforth Avenue
81 NJT	Bayonne via Greenville	Grove Street Station Communipaw Junction Danforth Avenue Curries Woods, Ocean Ave, Ave C
82 NJT	Greenville regular service to Hudson County Correction Facility, limited elsewhere	Routes via Newark Plank Road, West Side, Jersey City#West Side Avenue, or limited service on (Lincoln Highway) U.S. 1/9 Truck
86 AM and PM peak service NJT	Bergenline Station	Stops include Grove Street Station, Newport Centre Mall, Newark Plank Road, 9th/Congress Station, and Weehawken Water Tower
Academy Bus	Garden State Arts Center	limited peak-hour service available

In popular culture

The scenic waterfront vistas, showcasing New York City and One World Trade Center, have been featured as visual backdrops on platforms such as Gmail, WordPress, and Emporis. Positioned atop the Hyatt Regency Hotel, the EarthCam webcam provides live views of One World Trade Center, drawing millions of weekly viewers and occasionally appearing on local television broadcasts.

In the 1998 movie Godzilla, the present-day location of the Goldman Sachs Tower was depicted as a military base. The Exchange Place PATH station was shown in an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, while the film Sid and Nancy concluded near Exchange Place by Harborside.

MTV’s "The Week in Rock" recorded a segment along the Exchange Place waterfront during an interview with Queen Latifah. The pier and New York skyline are frequently used as a backdrop for private conversations between lead characters in the 2021 television series The Equalizer.

Views of Lower Manhattan from Exchange Place are also featured in music videos, including Demi Lovato's I Love Me and Afrojack and David Guetta's Hero.