HOBOKEN WATERFRONT PLAN
Hoboken, NJ
The Hoboken Waterfront Corporation was formed in early 1992 by Hoboken’s Mayor and City Council for the purpose of creating a waterfront development program for the City. After two decades of fruitless effort and two public referenda defeating public waterfront development plans, the Corporation was created to examine and plan the waterfront as a whole, from the Jersey City boundary to the south,
to the Weehauken boundary to the north.
The area involved in this planning and implementation project included a largely vacant pier and various industrial properties intended to be reused for office, hotel, residential and retail development. Urban Partners was retained as economic and implementation analyst to the Waterfront
Concept Plan effort. Our role was to assess the economic benefits of various development alternatives and of specific activities, to participate in the intensive community participation process through which alternative development strategies were evaluated and a preferred strategy selected, to assess the costs of public improvements — such as pier stabilization, street and utility construction and park and esplanade construction — necessary to support the recommended waterfront improvements and to structure
a Request for Qualifications process to attract potential
developers.
The plan reserves over 60 percent of the waterfront for public open space and focuses development on portions of the site closest to Hoboken’s traditional commercial
core -- thus maintaining and supporting the existing Washington Street retail district. This project received the 2002 New Jersey Smart Growth Award.
