Dollars pumped into developing new office buildings and new residential units seem to be pushing up the standard of living countywide. Of the building boom, a tangible benefit is jobs. 35,000 new ones have been created in Jersey City alone, according to the Jersey City Economic Development Corporation.
But jobs for whom?
Critics say that while it’s great that Chase Manhattan and other high-end businesses have chosen to set up shop on this side of the river, they tend to bring with them a workforce that is already in place.
On the other hand, there is turnover when the offices move, and local workers apply for the slots. But what’s more, big money seems to be there for the making for those who would like to provide services to the new office buildings and the workers inside. Lunches need to be prepared. Security needs to be provided. Windows need to be washed.
There seems to be little question that the business of providing these services, which can be quite lucrative, will fall on the shoulders of Hudson County residents almost exclusively. “Finally, we are seeing a demand for new restaurants to open up,” said Dan Frohwirth, the Director of Real Estate with the Jersey City Economic Development Corporation. “In the Gotham alone [a mixed use office building in downtown Jersey City] plans are to open a new Mexican restaurant and a new Oddfellows [pub] to compliment the Oddfellows already in Hoboken.”
But it’s not just restaurants. Kings/Fresh Ideas, a supermarket, opened a store in the Shipyard development along Hoboken’s northern waterfront already and employs 60 people, 45 from Hudson County.
A new store, nearly twice as large, has been planned for Hoboken’s southern waterfront. If it is approved, it will sit near a two-tower office building already under construction there. Together the stores could employ as many as 160 people, according to Peter Romero, the store’s uptown manager.
All this growth will push income levels in the county to the highest level they have ever been. According to Geographic Business Systems, a Paramus-based consulting firm, every city in the county is expected to see its residents’ incomes soar in the next five years. In some places like North Bergen, residents can expect an average increase of 9.6 percent. Jersey City income levels are expected to jump 6.6 percent; Union City and West New York 5.4 percent, Secaucus 2.9 percent and Hoboken .4 percent.
To a certain degree some of these increases are fueled by the influx of new middle and upper middle class residents who are fleeing the tight housing market in Manhattan, or have relocated along with their companies to posh waterfront digs.
But county and city officials would argue that the increase is not solely a function of waterfront buildings. New businesses are popping up in places that do not have a view of Manhattan. Elizabeth Spinelli, the executive director of the Hudson County Economic Development Corporation, pointed to a North Bergen Internet company that planned to employ hundreds of workers.
“I think people get blinded by the waterfront,” she said. “We have to remember that the county is really a county of immigrants where people are just looking for that first good job. And there are lots of new businesses here where you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to work. They may not grab the headlines when they open up, but they are making things happen.”
In North Bergen, a proposed shopping mall area called The Commons, which will include national chain stores, will provide approximately 650 new jobs.
Spinelli and her staff hope to land more businesses that create jobs. Entrepreneurs are intrigued by the county’s ability to offer businesses 100,000 square foot spaces. Though there are places, such as Hoboken and Weehawken, where residential construction has left very little room for industrial development, Spinelli says that there is an opportunity in the 684 contaminated brownfield sites around the county. These sites, which have laid untouched for years due to pollution left there by industries previously, can now be cleaned up and converted into usable properties thanks to legislation that Gov. Christine Todd Whitman signed in 1997.
The 25-acre Standard Chlorine site in Kearny is a prime example of an industrial space ready for rehab and reuse. “These brownfields are more like goldfields,” she said. The development of these sites, which Spinelli says is likely, could fuel even more job growth in the coming decade.
County officials say that there are still other factors fueling the boom. They say that by spending tax dollars wisely, they have created a climate that encourages new businesses to open their doors here.
“Maybe we will get a better handle on who is benefiting from all this once the census numbers are compiled,” said James Hughes, the dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. “Right now we are in a bit of a statistical black hole. We know how many jobs have been created and we know how much square footage of new housing has been built, but we don’t know if the job holders are from New York, the suburbs or Hudson County.”
Hughes said that it was obvious the impact of “the sheer number of new office buildings” was “positive.” Even the most ardent critics admit that as positions turn over in white-collar companies like Chase-Manhattan, they are more and more likely to be snatched up by the locals.
Construction jobs
While new jobs come to Hudson County, and the workers require new services, there are also jobs available due to the construction of the various projects.
“Union contractors carry certain core employees, but they can also satisfy the needs of each job out of local union halls,” said Joseph Cicala, a senior vice president at the Applied Companies in Hoboken, which is building residential housing in Hoboken and Jersey City. “Typically the foreman and the supervisory personnel work for the contractor, and the tradesmen get filled in.”
Cicala also said that construction is a great boon to local small businesses, including hardware stores, security firms and locksmiths. “Even if they’re not necessarily the key supplier to a contractor, they’re always in need of items on an immediate basis,” Cicala said. “Many of these entities wind up with sizeable accounts.”