Hoboken nonprofit group TRUE Mentors will begin spacing lease at the Jubilee Center next month, following the city acquiring the building for $3 million last year.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
The acquisition was paid for entirely by utilizing federal funding through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Section 108 Loan Guarantee Program.
The city will transform the Jubilee Center into a home for nonprofits and educational institutions, starting with the agreement with TRUE Mentors.
“Instead of landing in the hands of a developer, I’m thrilled the Jubilee Center will continue to provide critical resources for our community for generations to come,” Mayor Ravi Bhalla said in a statement.
“I look forward to our invaluable non-profits utilizing this space, starting with TRUE Mentors next month. Thank you to our federal elected officials, including Senator Menendez, Senator Booker and Congressman Sires for securing federal funding to help finance this project.”
The nonprofit will provide free one-on-one, group, and educational mentoring programs to Hudson County youth between the ages of 7 and 18.
“TRUE Mentors is incredibly excited and grateful to return to the beloved Jubilee Center,” said TRUE Mentors Executive Director Katharine Samberg-Lawrence.
“We humbly thank everyone involved in this arrangement. This space will enable us to host a robust calendar of enrichment activities, match outings, field trips, and events planned for the spring and summer of 2022.”
The Hoboken City Council authorized the purchase of the property through a resolution that was sponsored by Councilman-at-Large Jim Doyle and Council President Michael Russo after the governing body approve a measure to explore the purchase in September 2020.
TRUE Mentors will officially move into the first and third floors of the Jubilee Center in April.
What will it cost Hoboken taxpayers going forward ?
HUD funding is supposedly covering buying the building but what will it cost to keep the doors open ?
Selling to a developer would have added hundreds of thousands to the City tax rolls .
This was a great asset to the children in the HHA and it will continue to be now.
Typical Democratic non-response. Never answering any questions about real costs to the people who actually pay the bills but always more “Virtue Signaling” with other peoples money.
Raising already property and school taxes will force the middle class out of Hoboken.
Love these critics… The building sold for 350,000 under value, HUD approved the deal, the HHA needs this but uptown yuppies complain while they support a temporary PickleBall Court on Harrison St for 8$00,000
Those uptown yuppies and middle class taxpayers paid for those courts and everything else in Hoboken.
Unless I misread the federal funds are in the form of a loan guarantee not a grant. If so, the City is paying the full purchase price. HUD is just helping to reduce the financing costs. Hoboken taxpayers will be subsidizing someone’s favorite non profits. Plenty of opportunity for corruption here.