The Hoboken City Council unanimously approved (8-0) a redevelopment agreement with LCOR to move the latest version of the long awaited rail yard plan forward.
By Daniel Ulloa/Hudson County View
The project includes a new bus terminal, a new ferry terminal, a 20-story, 365,00 square-foot office building, and a 389-unit residential building, with 20 percent of them being affordable housing.
Terry Pranses, of the rail yard task force, presented the results of the March 15th meeting on the rail yard redevelopment plan.
“What happens at the terminal should be what Hoboken wants at the terminal,” he said.
Pranses noted that Warrington Plaza’s redevelopment would include preserving its unique cobblestones. He noted that the plaza was previously an eyesore.
While there have been extensive depictions of the soon-to-be transformed train station, there have not been depictions of a new bus terminal.
“There seems to be enough funding,” Pranses noted.
Hoboken Corporation Counsel Brian Aloia indicated that they wanted to add an additional council member (four total) and a representative from the Hoboken Business Alliance to a nine-member task force to oversee the Hudson Place design portion of the project.
“This is a long time coming. I’m happy we’ve gotten to this point. This is kind of a compromise. This is really trying to reflect the interest and concerns of the community, while thinking about this as different from the rest of the City of Hoboken,” 2nd Ward Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher said.
She noted she would have liked to have seen the construction of the office building that is part of the project to be completed earlier in the project than it is designed, but noted the nature of the economy does not permit it.
Fisher also said there would be use of the plaza early into construction, while the project’s completion remains ongoing.
“The amendments to the old plan were passed in May, I believe. This is the agreement to memorialize the building certain aspects of this project consistent with the plan that was approved. This really isn’t an opportunity to change the plan at this point. That happened in May,” explained Councilman-at-Large Jim Doyle.
“There are not a lot of good things that came out of [Superstorm] Sandy … We were looking at an awful lot more in the past. There has been compromise certainly. I think it’s an improvement today from where we were a couple of years ago,” he said, continuing that flooding prevention measures have already been installed by the train station.
Councilwoman-at-Large Emily Jabbour added that the state had allocated $176 million for the redevelopment, the first time it was been included in a state budget. For that reason, she thanked Gov. Phil Murphy (D) for his assistance.
To that end, 5th Ward Councilman Phil Cohen, who called into the meeting, recalled that Murphy previously indicated he would support the effort.
“We are very appreciative of the support from the state for this project. We’re going to have our transportation hub site overhauled,” he stated.
“It’s a very exciting thing. I think it’s great we’re partnering with LCOR, the state, and organized labor for this project. We look forward to continuing conversations with all the stakeholders. We will move forward together to make this city an even better, more desirable place to live.”
Council President Mike Russo also expressed excitement about the project moving forward.
“This is decades in the making. There’s been a lot of very vocal advocates for this project over the last 20 years. This has been going on for a long time.”
The measure passed unanimously (8-0), with 6th Ward Councilwoman Jen Giattino absent. 1st Ward Councilman Mike DeFusco also called into the meeting.
“Y’all need to clap like that for affordable housing,” resident Patricia Waiters said to the audience following the council’s approval.
Construction is currently scheduled to begin in 2023 with a projected completion of 2029, expecting to support 15,290 permanent jobs and $234 million in tax revenue annually, according to NJ Transit.
“We are grateful for Governor Murphy’s substantial financial commitment for these improvements to the rail, bus and ferry facilities at Hoboken Terminal,” NJ Transit President/CEO Kevin Corbett said in a statement.
“This will greatly benefit the millions of NJ TRANSIT, PATH and NY Waterway customers who rely on this vital, intermodal transportation hub every year.”
While Murphy is currently on vacation with his family in Italy, Acting Gov. Sheila Oliver (D) also hailed the first major step in the project.
“The governor and I are proud of this redevelopment in Hoboken and the economic benefits it brings. The Murphy Administration is focused on strengthening our state from the inside out. We look forward to all the benefits the redevelopment project will bring to the Hoboken community and broader region.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated with comments from NJ Transit President/CEO Kevin Corbett and Acting Gov. Sheila Oliver.
This is fantastic deal for LOCOR and NJT with another $176,000,000 taxpayer handout.
Hoboken gets some scraps.
Unless there is some sort of an agreement that has not been disclosed to the public anything built on NJT property is exempt from Hudson County, Hoboken City and Hoboken School taxes.