Western growth in the Mile Square City doesn’t seem to be slowing down and an ambitious plan to redevelop a warehouse property near the 9th Street Light Rail Station took a small step forward earlier this month.
At their January 15 meeting, Hoboken’s city council approved a resolution related to 4.3 acres of property at 914-930 Monroe Street. The move granted a conditional designation of redeveloper to a company called Monroe Properties LLC, who own the parcels and submitted plans to the city in December that laid out what they hope to bring to the site.
The proposal the company offered will now act as a starting point for negotiations and the submitted plans make clear the vision for redevelopment is bold. As currently pitched, Monroe Properties seeks to construct three separate tiered-style buildings on the property, with the northernmost structure consisting of 110,000-square feet of offices rising nine floors over retail space and a lobby.
The remaining two buildings would rise just south of the office spaces and each comprise 13 residential floors over retail and respective lobbies for a total of 393 units. The two residential structures would be connected by a sky bridge and per local ordinances, at least 10% of the units would be designated as affordable housing.
The entirety of the development would total over 65,000-square feet of dry-flood proofed retail space and 500 underground parking spaces. Several green features like underground detention tanks and rain gardens are slated to be included and the buildings would need to be certified LEED Silver.
The biggest benefit to the neighborhood would be the creation of over 40,000-square feet of outdoor amenities in the plan, the majority of which would be open to the public. That portion of the development includes the creation of a new pedestrian connection with the 9th Street Light Rail station through a pocket park that already exists behind the Vine development at 900 Monroe Street.
Several pedestrian plazas would be built between the three buildings and a children’s playground of almost 7,000-square feet would be featured. New sidewalks, lighting, decorative pavers, street trees, and pedestrian furniture would also be installed under the proposal.
The project, drawn up by New York-based S9 Architecture, is designed to link the palisades to Hoboken’s public spaces like Monroe Square and the upcoming Northwest Park that’s set to open in 2022. A warehouse currently on the land is being used by Prime Now, an affiliate of Amazon.
Paperwork submitted to the city indicates that the redevelopment of 930 Monroe Street is likely to be a slow process. Ownership says they hope to commence construction on the project in spring of 2022 and Prime Now currently has an application before the city’s planning board to reconfigure parking areas they are currently leasing, an indicator they won’t be vacating the property any time soon.
The city and Monroe Properties will now work to negotiate a redevelopment agreement, a process that the company will pay the costs for. The parcel falls within Hoboken’s Western Edge Redevelopment Plan and would need a few variances to move forward as currently pitched, including notable ones for maximum height of 158 feet where only 116 feet are allowed and another for 14 stories over retail in an area that’s only zoned for 10.
If a redevelopment agreement is reached between Monroe Properties and Hoboken, both the city council and the planning board would still need to sign off on the plans.
The emergence of the proposal, in addition to steps forward at 800 Monroe Street that we reported last week, are a sign that development interest in western Hoboken is starting to heat up. 2019 saw progress on a hotel and residential project at 1300 Jefferson Street and the potential of another 351-unit development emerge at 1200 Madison Street.
