After first being proposed several years ago, plans appear to be advancing for a new residential development at the edge of a Bayonne neighborhood.
The building is planned for 190 West 54th Street, just off of John F. Kennedy Boulevard, in the city’s 3rd Ward. The site, located adjacent to Mayor Richard A. Rutkowski Park along the Newark Bay and around the corner from New Jersey Transit bus service to Manhattan and Jersey City, was previously home to the Hi-Hat Caterers facility. A different development for the property was planned back in 2003, according to the Hudson Reporter, but even though construction began in 2007, the building was never finished due to the financial market conditions at the time.
This project was originally proposed by 190 West 54th Street Urban Renewal Associates, LLC which appears to be affiliated with Westchester County, New York-based Baker Residential, back in 2014. At the time, it was slated to be a four-story elevator building with outdoor parking provided on-site, according to a LoopNet listing. City records show that the original project plans also called for the structure to include 248 residential rental units, that the plans were approved by the Bayonne Planning Board, and that the developer entered into a financial agreement with the City to receive a 30-year tax exemption and pay an annual Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) instead. An ordinance at the time stated that “the City Council further found that the requested tax exemptions are important to the City and that without the incentive of the tax exemptions, it is unlikely that the Project would be undertaken.”
Now, the proposal seems to finally be moving forward, though minor changes are planned. According to a legal notice, the developer is seeking an amendment to the financial agreement “due to a change in the unit mix and a resulting reduction in the number of proposed units,” though it is not clear how many units are now slated to be included in the project.
The Bayonne City Council passed the ordinance regarding the proposed amendment to the agreement on first reading during its meeting on June 21st, and will hold a public hearing before further considering it on Wednesday, July 19th at 7:00pm at the Municipal Building.
