The City of Hoboken is moving forward on a plan to work with the Hudson County Improvement Authority to build a $192.5 million municipal complex.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
A resolution before the city council tomorrow would allow the HCIA “to acquire certain property and interests therein” to relocate their Department of Public Works garage, which must move by November 2024, as part of their Monarch settlement with Ironstate Development.
City spokeswoman Marilyn Baer shed little detail on how the logistics would work.
“The city is exploring any and all options to potentially move forward with the relocation of the DPW garage and is thankful for the county’s consideration,” she said in an email.
Additionally, HCIA spokeswoman Darsen Hover said that the agency had not received a formal request from the city yet.
“The authority regularly gathers information and reviews the availability of assistance at the request of Hudson County municipalities,” she began.
“At this point the authority has not received a formal request for assistance regarding the City of Hoboken’s proposed project. Like with any request from a municipality, we would of course give full consideration to any request from the City of Hoboken and review it upon its receipt.”
The municipal complex would house DPW, along with the police and fire departments, office of emergency management, the volunteer ambulance corps, municipal court, council chambers, and more, but officials recently acknowledged a temporary DPW facility may be necessary.
Adding further complications to the matter is that fact that a related $44 million bond that requires six votes stalled out on the council since they only had five affirmative votes.
Theoretically, the HCIA could acquire the land, which the city says in the resolution is valued at $19,320,000, and then lease it to the city to move forward on the complex.
Despite the delays, Bhalla said at the end of May that “There’s no way it’s not gonna happen” in reference to the municipal complex during an interview.
A spokesman for the HCIA had previously confirmed they had met with Hoboken officials in March to discuss their financing programs, though no specific project was discussed.
The Hoboken City Council convenes at City Hall, 94 Washington St., tomorrow at 7 p.m. and the meeting will also stream live on their Facebook page.
Editor’s note: This story was updated with a comment from Hudson County Improvement Authority spokeswoman Darsen Hover.