Workers from a local public relations firm have been as busy as elves this Christmas season, spreading good will for their employer throughout the Meadowlands Area. In Rutherford, they have accosted local commuters at the train station there to “inform” them about the virtues of a certain proposal to redevelop the Continental Arena site in East Rutherford. In Jersey City and other towns in Hudson County, posters have mysteriously popped up singing the praises of the same proposal, which has been submitted to the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority.
These efforts have been done on behalf of Secaucus-based Hartz Mountain Industries by the PR firm.
Ron Simoncini, spokesperson for Hartz Mountain and president of Axiom Holding Company, called it an “educational program.”
“It is intended to help people see the differences in local impacts from various proposals,” Simoncini said.
Hartz Mountain was among the three finalists in what some local officials are calling the “Arena lottery” – an effort by the Sports and Exposition Authority to find a development idea for the Meadowlands that will bring in people without distracting from or undermining the local economy or ecology.
The Continental Airlines Sports Arena may move to Newark, leaving the area open for new development.
Out of six proposals, The Westfield Group of Los Angeles, The Mills Corp. of Arlington, Va., with Mack-Cali Realty of Cranford, and Hartz Mountain Industries of Secaucus have submitted proposals. All three would turn the 106- acre site into a center for family entertainment with sports-related attractions and stores.
The Westfield Group has offered a proposal called the “Arena Place,” a kind of urban village that would include work and play environments. Under this proposal, the arena would be transformed into a live entertainment center that will anchor the development of an urban village to include restaurants, hotels, offices, retail conference and exhibition facilities as well as a town square.
Hartz Mountain – along with Forest City Ratner of New York – proposed what is called “Expo Park at the Meadowlands.” This envisions the redeveloped Continental Arena site as a new hub for the Meadowlands and the New York/New Jersey metropolitan region. This would include a diverse mix of uses that would combine around a new 500,000 square foot world class convention center with a pedestrian-friendly streetscape to create a new destination for sports, commerce and recreation.
The Mills Corporation, along with Mack-Cali Realty Corporation, has proposed something called “Xanadu,” a visually compelling multiuse attraction that incorporates family entertainment, office and hotel uses. This facility would work with the existing sports complex to include participatory sports and recreation programs, entertainment and educational venues, and complementary leisure uses. Envisioned would be indoor skiing, indoor surfing, an extreme skiing park, a minor league ball park, a creative arts studio for kids, an experimental learning play city for kids, a luxury spa, and fine dining.
All three proposals also include office buildings and would cost about $1 billion, while creating about 4 million square feet of new construction.
The three companies must submit more detailed financial projections by the end of the year, and the Sport Authority will decide early next year, as long as the proposal to construct a new arena in Newark occurs.
Mills would provide sports venue and transit hub
To avoid massive traffic jams into the complex, the state Department of Transportation is looking into how to best bring mass transit to the site.
Of the three, only the Mills included rail facilities in its plan. Although Mills did not say who would pay for the rail link, its plans would have a heavy-rail line turn off the Bergen Line in Rutherford, stop at the Meadowlands complex, and continue onto the Pasack Valley rail Line on the other side of Berry’s Creek. While a light rail line has been proposed for the Meadowlands, the Mills proposal would allow trains carrying as many as 1,800 passengers to stop at the Sports Complex instead of the 60 to 80 passengers that light rail can carry.
The Mills proposal offers an extremely wide range of activities centered specifically on sports, and according to Mills officials, it would help emphasize the sports-related theme throughout the complex. If New York City gets the Olympic games, the sports complex will play an important role, said Bob Sommer, spokesperson for Mills, and the Mills proposal would fit right in. The site would also allow for the broadcast of ESPN games, a BMX bicycle, and other sports that lack facilities in the area.
Hartz counts on being local
Although some local officials have already come out in support of the Hartz proposal, saying that it would have the least impact on local businesses, workers hired by Axiom have been traveling around the county seeking to get public support for the Hartz proposal.
“It is our belief that a heavy retail use is not desirable for that site for many reasons,” Simoncini. “We hired these people to inform the public about the differences in the project.”
Hartz has a significant real estate investment in the area that includes local malls and outlets, and a mall constructed at the Arena site could have a significant economic effect on these.
In pushing Hartz’s proposal, Simoncini said the fact that Hartz is local gives the company a better view of the needs of the region and makes the company more interested in the welfare of the local region than companies based outside the Meadowlands area.
The $825 million Hartz proposal would focus on the convention center, fulfilling a promise made by Gov. Jim McGreevey to bring in world-class facilities to the Meadowlands area.
Simoncini points out that Hartz owns the only existing facility in the area, an 85,000 square foot facility in Secaucus that provides a start to many groups.
“But after a while, they get too big for our facility and they are forced to seek accommodations elsewhere,” he said. “We know that Javits Center in New York is full all the time and rejects a lot of projects. With the transportation infrastructure we have in the Meadowlands, we feel a convention center could be very successful here.”
He said that new malls in a down economy would only take business from other malls or businesses, and would not act as the attraction for increased revenue the sport authority would like, whereas the convention center would.
In a statement issued by the Sports Authority, chief executive George Zoffinger said the three remaining proposals “contain the components and ideas that best suit the site, the Meadowlands Sports Complex and the North Jersey region.”
Simoncini agreed, although he felt Hartz’ proposal fit the criteria best. “We like our chances,” he said.
Mills Corporation responded to Hartz’s door-to-door campaign in a written statement as “a last ditch effort.”
Environmental issues
Mills Corporation has been seeking approvals for a mall less than a mile away in Carlstadt. If allowed to redevelop the Arena site, it would give up plans for the Carlstadt mall, abandoning requests to fill in more than 200 acres of wetlands.
As part of its proposal, Mills has offered to donate the entire 600-acre Carlstadt tract to the state for preservation, a significant incentive to Riverkeeper Bill Sheehan, a staunch opponent of the Carlstadt mall.
“Mills said it would donate the entire Empire Tract to the state for conservation plus $25 million to restore it,” he said.
Sheehan, however, said Hartz has also offered to give a piece of land for preservation, a 94-acre site Hartz had intended to restore as wetlands – if allowed to build a townhouse project on Mill Creek. In 1996, Hartz sold the Mill Creek land and abandoned the townhouse project.
“Since then, these 94 acres have been sitting around,” said Sheehan, who had met with Hartz and Mills about their Arena projects. “We’ve been trying to make certain the proposals are environmentally sound. We have attempted to meet with Westfield, but we haven’t succeeded in that yet.”
Sheehan said both Mills and Hartz have agreed to make a number of environmental adjustments to their proposals. Both will follow the Leeds Guide, a handbook for environmentally sensitive construction.
“This means they’ll be using recycled materials whenever possible, and make responsible choices for use and selection of lumber,” Sheehan said. “Both companies have also agreed to install recyclable energy resources throughout the complex and seek alternative energy sources such as solar.”
Sheehan is also asking the Sports Complex to consider using recycled water for the watering of grounds. This would require the complex to upgrade its sewerage treatment plant to the highest filtration possible and to hook the arena site into the existing sewer system. The Westfield group was not available for comment.