Hoboken's railyard redevelopment plan: Before and Now

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With Hoboken's ward election 3 weeks away, partisan political jockeying must not impact the redevelopment of the large swath of land ( 80 acres called "The Railyards") in southeast Hoboken owned by LCOR.  Whatever is built over there will exist long after this council and mayor are gone, and many of us are dead.  The significance of this legacy project flanking Hoboken's south border, cannot be overstated.

Anyone who cares, please feel free to peruse the current and former Railyards redevelopment proposals below; in short where it is now, and where it evolved from. 

Hudson County View did a nice write-up of how the proposal has changed since 2014. HCV quoted a memo written by Hoboken Community Development Director Chris Brown:

“Due to the proposed location of the Rebuild By Design (RBD) flood wall, the potential development program of the Plan is drastically reduced. The 2014 Redevelopment Plan allowed for a total of roughly 2.3 million square feet of development over nine sites,” Brown wrote in the memo.

The project has been amended from 2.3 million SF of development on 9 sites, to 1.36 million SF on 3 sites,  with 944,000 SF of ‘Future Potential Development’ along Observer Highway.  From HCV:

"The latest version of the HYRP also calls for 10 percent of the project’s housing units to be affordable, increasing safety at the bus terminal entrance, connecting bike lanes from Observer Highway to the riverfront, and increasing overall pedestrian safety in the area."

The design aesthetic of the two plans is starkly different.

In 2014, the proposal built on all 80 acres with buildings gradually reduced in height from east to west, like Russian matryoshka dolls. The dedicated open space on the plan were lots between buildings.

White line denotes scope of programmed redevelopment.

The current amended plan has 1/3 the dedicated open space, on 1/3 of the total 9 sites. The Russian Nesting Dolls theme is gone; in its place are (3) taller buildings, straddling an undeveloped length of flood wall.  They are (1) a 300 foot tall building (from 200 feet in 2014),  a 28-story residential building (from 24 on the original plan) and (3)145 feet high residential with lower-story parking and ground floor retail.    

White line denotes scope of programmed redevelopment.

GA never was a fan of LCOR's 'Russian Nesting Dolls" scheme, but the current swath of unprogrammed "Future Potential Development" area gives me the heebie-jeebies.  I'm going to plant a red flag there.  Also, with the proposed height increases impacting Washington to Bloomfield Streets and on Harrison, I'd like to see a shadow study of impacts on residential buildings on the north side of Observer Highway before the ordinance moves at the Council. That said, this development has a markedly smaller footprint than the previous one.  

It is curious that the Council majority approved the amendments on First Reading, then decided to table Second Reading because community input had been insufficient (?) Whether or not that is true, there will be  a community meeting on Tuesday, October 15 at 7:00 pm at the Multi-Service Center (124 Grand Street).  

See below the 2014 and  amended 2019 Railyard redevelopment proposals, with a history of the project at the bottom of the page. 

2014 RAILYARDS REDEVELOPMENT PLAN

2014 Hoboken Railyard Redevelopment Plan by GrafixAvenger on Scribd

2019 AMENDED RAILYARDS REDEVELOPMENT PLAN

2019 Hoboken Railyard Redevelopment Plan (Amended) by GrafixAvenger on Scribd

HISTORY 
Source: https://www.hobokennj.gov/resources/hoboken-terminal-yard-redevelopment-plan 

"The Hoboken Yards area was declared an Area in Need of Redevelopment in February 2007. In 2008, the City had New Jersey Transit, the owner of the property, prepare a plan that ended up with a total development square footage that was, in the end, determined not reflective of the character of Hoboken and was not adopted.

In 2011, the City decided to prepare a redevelopment plan for the site that was driven by the City, and hired the planning consultant Wallace Roberts Todd to prepare that plan. The planning process included significant community input and consensus building activities, including surveys, community meetings, stakeholder meetings, and input from the property owner. Following that extensive community-driven design process, the City completed a draft plan in September 2012. 

Before the draft plan could be adopted, Super Storm Sandy hit and there were additional issues that needed to be considered. The City incorporated additional measures into the plan to address flood damage prevention and the added costs to the implementation of the plan. The City conducted an updated economic analysis to consider the post-Sandy flood mitigation measures to make the plan more resilient and sustainable, and the Redevelopment Plan was amended accordingly and adopted in December 2014.

The Redevelopment Plan will create a true mixed-use project that will significantly diversify the local economy, support local businesses, revitalize the Hoboken Terminal area and Observer Highway–an essential gateway to Hoboken. In addition to the flood mitigation measures required in the plan, the plan includes indoor public space, minimum requirements for 3-bedroom family-oriented housing units, a 10% affordable housing set aside to enable families to stay in Hoboken, a variety of public spaces including a pedestrian plaza at Hudson Place and Warrington Plaza, and bicycle paths connecting a redesigned Observer Boulevard to the waterfront. The plan also requires a contribution to the open space trust fund to facilitate building additional park space in Hoboken."