Comments on: 509 Newark: High-Rise Condos?

By: whineanddineinhob

whineanddineinhob — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:22:10 +0000

The variances for Casessa’s property were approved last night by the zoning board.

By: matt_72

matt_72 — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:02:35 +0000

This and all other requests for variance should be completely shot down until a master plan is adopted. And yes, I bet it is another attempt to put through a PILOT building. How about this, shoot the PILOT down too. One thing I was noticing in JS when I walked around down there was that while they have tons of real tall buildings, they mostly don't have 100% lot coverage. They may be corrupt as heck down there, but at least they make sure there is some space around all those towers so you don't feel like you are surrounded by nothing but bland concrete pieces of krapola. In response to plaintruthiness who said:

No traffic study required. Anybody trying to navigate those 3 blocks of Newark St hell can vouch that it is a total failure in traffic management. It is way, way too congested, there is no signal light at Newark/Jackson with half the cars trying to turn left onto Jackson to get to the Patterson Plank. Cars making zig-zags to get from Monroe to Grove. I'm surprised there aren't more accidents. Add a 12-story 72-unit building with cars trying to exit a driveway on Newark St? 100% land use with a nursery school? Where will the toddlers play at, the Henderson St. sewage flood pond? Pretty dumb. Hope the Zoning Board uses their noodles for once. Also...is this another PILOT?

By: truth1

truth1 — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:56:10 +0000

cc meeting & zoning board at the same time…your government in motion…..see ya…..

By: plaintruthiness

plaintruthiness — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:41:22 +0000

No traffic study required. Anybody trying to navigate those 3 blocks of Newark St hell can vouch that it is a total failure in traffic management. It is way, way too congested, there is no signal light at Newark/Jackson with half the cars trying to turn left onto Jackson to get to the Patterson Plank. Cars making zig-zags to get from Monroe to Grove. I’m surprised there aren’t more accidents. Add a 12-story 72-unit building with cars trying to exit a driveway on Newark St?

100% land use with a nursery school? Where will the toddlers play at, the Henderson St. sewage flood pond? Pretty dumb. Hope the Zoning Board uses their noodles for once. Also…is this another PILOT?

By: YipYap

YipYap — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:54:41 +0000

Was there an actual traffic study done here?

The traffic on Observer and Newark heading out of town in the morning is chaos, it regularly backs up to Washington St. The traffic in the evening backs up in the other direction into Jersey City. The firehouse across from this property is already blocked off by vehicular traffic every day. If it wasn’t for those HPD police officers at the corner Grove and Newark redirecting the traffic flow every morning there would be allot of accidents and dead pedestrians. Crossing that intersection even with the police presence in the morning is still a near death experience.

The corner of Newark and Madison across from this property has been closed for years with metal barricades so the HFD can park their personal vehicle there. Not sure if the town passed a law, or the land was just appropriated.

How about this for a redesign and a give back from the developer. Town opens up the intersection of Madison and Newark one way to Newark and install as traffic light on Newark. Former fire chief Casessa donates a dozen parking spaces in this new building for the use of the HFD for 99 year lease at 1 dollar a year.

By: cheeky

cheeky — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:58:58 +0000

Honest question to one who doesn’t know.

When someone attempts to get clearance to build a condo of this size, WHO does it benefit?

Sure it benefits the developer who can make a lot of money.And to be cynical/realistic, it can benefit politically connected business that put in the toilets,windows, etc, and can also benefit politicians pockets who approve of it.

BUT does it in any way benefit ANY resident of Hoboken? Is there any added value to the quality of a Hoboken resident’s life to have more of these buildings? And if the answer is no, how in the world can this go through?

Please feel free to flame me if you seek, but why in the world would this be approved?

In response to patssoxrevscelts who said:

Cassesa has a bunch of properties on the market right now, I think it’s 506 adams and the property backing that. He got a boatload of variances from Roberts (surprise), one of them to build an extension far past his neighbors – smaller yard and more sq inside. The units are big, but finish is just ok. If that’s the quality we’re looking at for this next project, it’ll just add to cookie-cutter row.

By: patssoxrevscelts

patssoxrevscelts — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:29:54 +0000

By: matt_72

matt_72 — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:19:39 +0000

Considering how much of a mess Roberts created, I'd have shot down any plan he put forward purely out of principle. (not to mention how he screwed the pooch on most of the "win win" deals he got for Hoboken, seems like the city never won with any of those) In response to hobokenrsident who said:

Zimmer’s Torpedoes Sink Hoboken A redevelopment plan relies on the integration of the disciplines of land use planning, transport planning, and foresight into achievable opportunities for new municipal ratables. A well thought out plan allows local government to permit property owners and developers’ to proceed with building and redeveloping their properties, while still giving something back to taxpayers in the areas of public use space and new income, to their community for public services. Such a plan was devised during past administration for the re-development of Hoboken’s South West district. But despite the best efforts of former Mayor Dave Roberts, this plan was torpedoed by the Hoboken City Council thanks to Dawn Zimmer and her cronies, for purely political purposes. The plan that the former administration had proposed would have added 4 1/2 acres of new public parkland and brought the city an additional 12 million dollars a year in new revenues. Dawn Zimmer was quick to categorize that redevelopment plan as simply allowing unchecked growth of 12 story condominium buildings in Hoboken. Yet property owners have rights that allow them to re-develop their properties. So now, instead of having a redevelopment plan and a negotiable starting point that could have been a “win win win”, for the property owners, the city, and Hoboken taxpayers, this issue will be decided by the Hudson County Courts, granting the landowners the right to build with variances. Dawn Zimmer made her choice back then for personal political reasons...Now Hoboken will pay the price. Hoboken resident

By: dunotar

dunotar — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:31:25 +0000

Checkers in # 16 is right. There’s no way a retired fire chief has enough capital for a project on this scale. State law requires that applicants reveal who the investors are (down to the last 10%). Sleazeballs get around this by not forming their LLC’s until AFTER they’ve cleared the approvals they need.

I’ve watched this process unfold many times & I’m convinced that most folks on the zoning board, including our hired gun attorney and city planner know who the likely investors are, that’s why so many mediocre buildings get approved.

Forcing would-be developers to reveal their investors would be a nice loop hole for a potential mayoral candidate to close for us. Publishing the names of those individuals involved in some of our more recent and controversial projects now would be very enlightening as we move forward into Hoboken’s next chapter.

By: truth1

truth1 — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:37:06 +0000

This retired fire chief and his wife(a real pro) have been in real estate for many years.