A project by Rockefeller Group affiliate Park Willow LLC would bring 729 residential units composed of both rental and condominium homes, with 73 units reserved as affordable housing, as well as extensive open space, protected bike lanes and a new municipal parking garage to a 2.5-block area in Hoboken’s North End. — Renderings courtesy: City of Hoboken
By Joshua Burd
A long-awaited plan to build more than 700 residential units and other uses in Hoboken’s North End is advancing after the adoption of redevelopment agreements between the city and Rockefeller Group, the owner of four key parcels in the area.
According to city officials, which announced the milestone on Thursday, plans call for revitalizing two large blocks north of 15th Street at the Willow Avenue and Park Avenue intersections, as well as a portion of the block south of 15th Street between Willow and Park. Together, the projects will deliver 729 residential units composed of both rental and condominium homes, with 73 units reserved as affordable housing, as well as extensive open space, protected bike lanes and a new municipal parking garage.
The investment would transform what were largely blighted industrial properties at a prominent intersection.
“This is a legacy project for me and for our community,” Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla said. “The Rockefeller sites have been an urban blight at our doorstep for decades. Now, together with Harborside Park currently under construction (at 15th Street and Park Avenue), the Rockefeller sites will provide a beautiful gateway entrance into our Mile Square City.
“The work to thoughtfully plan the future of the North End began when I was serving on the City Council, and seeing this project now moving forward is truly historic. I am especially proud that these projects will deliver new affordable housing, expand public open space and create safer, more sustainable ways for people to move through our city.”
Bhalla, who is leaving office after two terms as mayor, thanked Chris Brown, director of the city’s Department of Community Development, “for his years of hard work and dedication and our entire in-house planning team’s diligence and commitment to ensuring these agreements reflect Hoboken’s values and deliver real community benefits.” Among those perks will be more than 48,000 square feet of new public open space, including linear parks, promenades and plazas that will connect the North End to Harborside Park and the waterfront.
“Rockefeller Group is pleased to partner with the City of Hoboken to help revitalize the city’s North End,” said Phillip Golub, the firm’s director of Northeast development. “By bringing a suite of community benefits and world-class design, we are excited to deliver a transformational project that we hope will become a source of civic pride.
“In addition to housing, the many planned public amenities demonstrate the value of public-private partnerships at their best. We thank Mayor Bhalla, the City of Hoboken and the City Council for their thoughtful consideration and support of the redevelopment agreements and look forward to the work ahead.”
A key element of the redevelopment agreements is the construction of a fully separated two-way cycle track along 15th Street, forming a critical link in the citywide bicycle network known as the Green Circuit, officials said in a news release. The protected bike lanes will connect the western portion of the North End to Harborside Park and the waterfront, improving safety for cyclists while supporting the city’s Vision Zero goals of eliminating traffic deaths and injuries by 2030.
The pacts with Rockefeller affiliate Park Willow LLC also include more than 38,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, extensive street and streetscape improvements and green roofs on each building for stormwater management, the news release said. What’s more, the city will receive a $4 million community benefit payment as the projects advance through the approval and construction process.
Officials added that the investment will yield a new 275-space municipal parking garage, the first built in the city since 2003 and the only municipal parking facility ever created in uptown Hoboken. The city will lease the garage for long-term public use, supporting residents, visitors, and nearby businesses while advancing the neighborhood-focused, multimodal redevelopment of the North End, with net revenues generated from the garage anticipated to be collected by the city.
“Approving these redevelopment agreements is a major accomplishment, reflecting years of planning, collaboration and care,” said Fifth Ward Councilman Phil Cohen, who has served on the city’s community development subcommittee for the last six years. “The piles of rubble that greet Hoboken’s visitors at our northern border will be transformed into a thoughtfully designed mixed-use neighborhood, enhancing our waterfront park at Weehawken Cove and soccer field at 1600 Park, providing new public green spaces with world class vistas of the New York skyline, adding to a planned commercial corridor on 15th Street, and adding a municipal garage that will add much-needed parking, and a new source of parking revenue to offset future tax increases.”
