Hoboken officials announced that a 17-story, 270-room Hilton Hotel is coming to the waterfront during a brief press conference at Pier A Park this morning.Â
““We will be delivering to the residents of the city of Hoboken a world class, full service Hilton Hotel right here on our waterfront,†began Mayor Ravi Bhalla.
“When I ran for mayor, I was always in favor of bringing a hotel to Hoboken: one that was consistent with the scale of Hoboken’s south waterfront. I think that we’ve done that here. While the redevelopment plan allows for a hotel as high as 290 feet, we will have a hotel that is about 60 feet lower than what is permitted by the redevelopment plan.”
Bhalla continued that the hotel will be equipped with a rooftop bar, exceptional views of the Manhattan Skyline and a variety of entertainment options – such as a venue for weddings.
Almost exactly one year ago, the Hoboken council approved a review of the city’s proposed redevelopment plan. At the time a councilman-at-large, Bhalla expressed concern with a hotel that was 24 stories high. Since then, that concern has clearly been remedied.
“We have a waterfront park, not just a 30-foot walkway, that’s clearly delineated by a public street grid. This allows for front doors on the new buildings and ground-floor retail to face Sinatra Drive and the waterfront park and the Hudson River,” added Fund for a Better Waterfront Executive Director Ron Hine.
KMS Development Partners said the endeavor will create $1.7 million in tax revenue for the city, as well as 120 full-time jobs during construction of the project.
The project will also renovate the Mile Square City’s post office, located at 89 River St., which was constructed back in 1931.
Officials did not estimate what the project would cost or when it would be completed.
Bhalla and the Fund for a Better Waterfront sold out big time on this deal. Who benefits? Not the people of Hoboken. Not the people who will have to deal with the shadows cast upon Pier A park. Not those who rely on the park to provide sunlight and breeze. Politicians will benefit because they will have an additional $1.7 million to squander on jobs and lucrative contracts for their friends. Don’t talk about job creation because once construction is complete all that will remain are a few minimum wage jobs that more than likely will not even go to Hoboken residents. You can rest assured that no management jobs will be offered to Hoboken residents and the spillover to local businesses will be minimal.
I find it interesting that Bhalla opposed the hotel when he was a councilman and floated the idea of a boutique hotel but now he is suddenly satisfied with a building that will dwarf most others in Hoboken. Piece by piece open space is disappearing in Hoboken and politicians like Bhalla want us to believe that they are creating more open space. Folks, the fact is that sunlight is important too. This plan is just plain bad. It’s bad for Hoboken, it’s bad for Pier A park. Maybe it will be a great deal for a few greedy politicians and one happy developer.
The area surrounding the Post Office is already jammed at both the morning and evening commuting times.
This will add even more pedestrian and vehicular traffic and no one wants to talk about the problems this will exacerbate.
Bhalla and the Fund for a Better Waterfront sold out the residents of Hoboken. Not only will this Hotel destroy the look of the waterfront but it will block light and air from Pier A. Already the waterfront is overly congested and this will not help the problem.
The reality is that once the project is complete, most of the jobs provided will be minimum wage jobs that most likely will not go to Hoboken residents. Middle management and management jobs will go to insiders from the Hilton organization. As far as the additional $1.7 million in taxes, you can bet that the money will be squandered on hiring more friends and relatives. Bhalla once proposed a low density boutique type hotel but apparently he was pressured into this very,very bad deal for Hoboken residents. It’s a shame what greed can do to a community.
If you don’t like crowded sidewalks go live in the burbs
Bhalla’s supporters are so quiet about this issue. Don’t you care that Mayor32% misled you during the campaign? Defusco supporters can’t say anything because they already knew how much money he received from the construction unions. Jen’s supporters can’t say anything because they know that as a realtor she only cares about dollars and not community character. Boy oh boy, we really did get screwed in the last election!
Ravi has to pay back the big unions that got behind him with all the PAC money from outside Hoboken. His supporters will support whatever deal profits Ravi. Hoboken isn’t their concern, Ravi is. Romano loves big development deals. Stick is in the video and has vocally supported big development in Hoboken just like Mike DeFusco. He made a lot of noise about it in 2015, how Hoboken is a city not a small town. Jen Giattino doesn’t represent the fib you told but maybe that will make you feel better. The old-time politicians you’ve supported always sold Hoboken out to developers. You must be the last to know.
There was never any real question that the Post Office would get their hotel deal. The only question is what it would look like. We still don’t know. It may be shorter and fatter then the original rendering but beyond that there are no real project specifics made public.
It is always disturbing when an elected official appears to be openly and actively promoting a specific private developer in the way First Ward Councilman Michael DeFusco did before, during and after he ran for mayor. Now that DeFusco was appointed to the Planning Board only makes it more disturbing.