The future of Big Banner Plaza

Take a long look people, because the end of Hoboken's Big Banner Plaza is coming to a Zoning Board near you!

Here it is, on the May 22, 2018 Hoboken Zoning Board of Adjustment agenda:

I cannot tell a lie: GA got a sneak peek at the Nastasi rendering. 

Ooooh...

I am not advocating for or against the application, because I don't know anything about it. But, I do love the design.  Remember, it is in the R-3 Zone, where there is more latitude/fewer restrictions on what a building is supposed to look like, than in the R-1 and R-2 Zones. 

GA's TWO CENTS: Without knowing anything about the project, it is pure Nastasi: sleekly modern, sophisticated, understated with thoughtful interplay of daylight on the building skin and it's nighttime transformation. The design appears inspired by mid-century modern architecture: full-height glass panel walls on ground and top floors, a flat plane roof, flat wall planes, simple concrete and stone materials. No curves, frou-frou or kitsch.

As for the height variance, Nasasti wraps the top of the building in glass so that visually, the solid of the facade is slightly lower than the 'solid' adjacent building. (If I were on the ZBA still, I would ask Nastasi to set back the glass - all of it- to make the height disappear.)  With full height glass panels on the ground floor illuminated at night, the building will float on light and brighten the streetscape.

Those are my thoughts about the proposed design! As for all the rest:  the density, the kind of retail is targeted, lot coverage, parking accommodation, etc. etc. etc. - that is up to the ZBA!

And, if the application fails, it's back to the drawing board.

What we all can surmise:  the clock is ticking on Hoboken's Big Banner Plaza.