Construction on a $14 million, six-story office building has begun at 79 Hudson St. Steps away for the PATH station, the building is set to be a modern interpretation of the 19th century Lyric Theater, a historical landmark that was torn down at the site in the 1950s.
The office building is slated to fuse fiber optic wiring and modern ergonomically designed offices with the charm of pre-cast concrete, real limestone and brick, the same materials used when the Lyric Theater originally rose over a century ago in 1886.
The Queen Anne-style theater was the most popular theater in the mile-square city for decades. The likes of Theodore Roosevelt and William Jennings Bryan are known to have spoken there during their political campaigns. Buster Keaton, Jack Benny, George Burns and Gracie Allen performed on the Lyric’s stage.
By the middle of the century, the time-worn theater was neglected and was razed in favor of a parking lot. Slightly over two years ago, Hoboken natives and developers Rob Ranieri and Louis Picardo purchased the land with the intention of building offices for local professionals.
The two, along with architect Grace Lynch, worked with the Hoboken Historical Preservation Commission to unearth the Lyric’s history. They created a design that they said incorporates the old and new in the building.
“We used the Historic Commission to help guide us through the process,” said Ranieri Monday. “This building will be one of the first things that people coming off the PATH will see, and we feel that it is an important indication that Hoboken cares about its historical past. This building does that.”
The new building will have a foyer that protrudes out into the sidewalk and resembles the ticket booth of the theater. Like the Lyric, the building will have a peaked roof, and the second story of the fa