Not only is the Hoboken Terminal complex a hub for passenger trains, PATH subways, local buses, light rail vehicles, and ferry service, but it also sits in an area between Jersey City’s Newport complex and Hoboken’s downtown that has become valuable real estate despite being increasingly prone to flooding. For well over a decade now, plans have been in the works to redevelop part of the property that surrounds the facility, which is one of the New York Metropolitan Area’s busiest multimodal transportation terminals. Now, the developer working with New Jersey Transit has quietly reactivated and expanded an online campaign to spread the word about the 2.3-million-square-foot project.
LCOR, which has offices in Manhattan, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, created HobokenTerminalandRailyard.com back in 2012, but recently conducted a complete redesign and updated the website. Although the latest version of the online platform contains few specifics regarding the plans for the redevelopment, it calls for viewers to “Reimagine Hoboken” and features several new renderings highlighting the proposed buildings and public spaces for the residential, retail, and office project. The website shows that there would be multiple residential buildings along the south side of Observer Highway between Marin Boulevard and Park Avenue and several office buildings between Park Avenue and River Street. It also claims that the project could involve the construction of a new bus terminal, create 52,500 jobs, and generate $306 million in new tax revenues.
Just before Memorial Day, LCOR created an Instagram account for the project where the company has shared renderings with approximately 30 followers, one of which promotes a component of the project just north of the terminal’s commuter rail platforms called the “Hudson Place & Roof” with outdoor seating. In addition, the firm has begun posting again on the development’s Facebook account, where it states that “Hoboken Yard has all the ingredients to make it an extraordinary district within the city and region.”
The plans to redevelop some of the property surrounding Hoboken Terminal date back to 2005, when LCOR was contracted by NJT to serve as a master planner and to redevelop outlying parts of the property. In the years since, although there has not been any construction, there have been multiple proposals for the site, including a recent one that called for a marketplace to open at Warrington Plaza this year. Back in 2014, the Hoboken City Council voted to approve a redevelopment plan for the entire site, but little progress has been made in the time since.
