The Hoboken City Council adopted a resolution Monday night to start the redevelopment process for the Neumann Leather Building on Observer Highway in Hoboken.
Mayor David Roberts pledged that he will protect the artists and small business owners who have workspace in the building.
The labyrinthine Neumann Leather Building, which is almost 150 years old, is like walking into Hoboken’s industrial past. In the nooks and crannies of the meandering industrial complex, more than 100 artisans, craft persons, and owners of small industries continue to operate.
Tenants include craftsmen, filmmakers, architects, cabinet makers, web designers, musicians, artists, and book publishers. The building is about 95 percent occupied.
But tenants of the landmark have recently been worried that their art lofts and offices were in jeopardy of becoming collateral damage of the city’s $7.9 budget gap.
The controversy began recently when Roberts had trouble pushing through an initiative to plug $7.9 million in revenue into the city’s $72 million budget, which is already 10 months late. Some City Council members have protested Roberts’ original plan to sell the city’s municipal garage and net $7.9 million, so the city needs alternative ways to plug the gap.
One alternative is to up-zone the garage neighborhood to make it residential, and sell the garage for much more money. But the new zoning would also include the nearby Neumann Leather building.
That proposed up-zoning would allow for 14-story residential building. This would mean that the landlord could sell it for much more money.
Even the members of late Hoboken-born crooner Frank Sinatra’s family, who have acquaintances working in the building, placed an ad on page 3 of Sunday’s Hoboken Reporter beseeching the city not to put the building in danger.
In reacting to the public outcry, Roberts on Monday proposed placing the Neumann Leather Building into redevelopment area.
Redevelopment, by state law, is a zoning term that means there is an area within the municipality that is not being used to its full potential.
Designating a redevelopment site can allow special zoning. It can also mean letting the designated developer(s) get tax abatements or make special in-lieu-of-tax payments to the city.
Monday’s plan
The City Council on Monday authorized the Planning Board to conduct a preliminary investigation to the possibility of redeveloping the Neumann Leather Building. The zoning they use can attempt to protect the building from being turned into an unsatisfactory use.
But this is just the first step in a lengthy process that would include a series of public hearings to result in the creation of a redevelopment plan.
“I am fully committed to the preservation of the Neumann Leather building and support the continued use by the many tenants who occupy the historic structure,” Roberts said Tuesday. “Over the past few weeks, I have met with representatives of the building’s owner and tenant leaders in an effort to work out a mutually acceptable accord.”
Roberts says that putting the Neumann Leather building into a redevelopment study area would preclude a developer from coming in and razing the building.
Roberts added that through redevelopment planning, it is possible to retain the building for “its economic benefits and its unique architecture and historical value.”
Roberts added that it is possible to balance development interests and the interests of the artists in a redevelopment plan. He said that to allow that current property owner, RW Reality, to make a profit, any redevelopment plan will likely allow for the construction of a residential building on the sprawling parking lot of the structure nearby, but will protect the existing building.
The mayor said he would also support granting a tax abatement for the site.