Jersey City’s Powerhouse Arts District is reminiscent of New York City’s Sunset Park, Ridgewood, or Gowanus ten years ago. Stretches of charming factory buildings with high ceilings and generous fenestration provide ample quarters for artists and designers on a budget to thrive. In February 2023, Brooklyn-based studios Kyle May, Architect (KM,A) and Inaba Williams Architecture completed a new cafe that, in the years to come, will provide an anchor for Powerhouse Arts District creatives.

Lackawanna Coffee on Warren Street is one of three locations in Jersey City. The name is a nod to the nearby Lackawanna Railroad Terminal that once connected gigatons of raw goods coming from Europe to cities around the U.S., and vice versa. Despite its namesake’s historicity, Lackawanna Coffee’s architecture makes no allusions to the past. The designers told AN Interior it’s an example of 21st-century “post-pandemic” design where “community-focused” spaces for gathering and “inclusive sociality” have taken on new importance.

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