Two decades after Texaco ceased operations on a 70-acre site in the southeastern corner of Bayonne, the first signs of redevelopment occurred on May 3 as city officials gathered with officials from Kaplan Companies and ChevronTexaco to mark the demolition of an 800-foot dilapidated pier on the Newark Bay.
Mayor Joseph Doria said this was the first sign of progress for a piece of property that the city has eyed for years for possible redevelopment.
Last year, in order to prompt ChevronTexaco into taking some action on the property, the city declared the property a redevelopment zone. The effort apparently worked because ChevronTexaco immediately contracted with Kaplan Companies to create a development plan.
“The Texaco plant closed 20 years ago,” Doria said last week. “This is the first positive development in addition to the ongoing remediation. I hope that the rebuilt pier will be accessible to all the citizens of Bayonne for recreational purposes.”
Jason Kaplan, president of Kaplan Companies, said the pier demolition is the start of redevelopment.
“This project will transform the former industrial site,” he said. “The purpose of the press conference [on May 3] was to show the commencement of the pier project.”
The timetable for the project included six weeks for asbestos abatement, followed by the demolition of the pier which he expects to take six to eight months.
“At that point, we begin the rebuilding process,” he said.
Rebuilding the pier to serve as a recreation hub is the first step toward the redevelopment of the entire site, Kaplan said.
The pier could provide a number of activities from fishing to ferry service.
“It is a great spot with great views,” he said, “and as the mayor pointed out, seeing the Bayonne Bridge from that side is an uncommon sight. Most people see if from the east side, not the west.”
Historically an industrial site
Kaplan said his company specializes in waterfront development, and looks to the future as possibly becoming the company that will redevelop the rest of the site.
The pier and its warehouses were once used to load and store products as a part of the Texaco lube blending facility, which operated in Bayonne from 1907 to 1985. The pier and associated platform are being demolished over the next few months; Chevron Environmental Management Company, a ChevronTexaco Company, is overseeing the project.
“The demolition of the pier, is to be completed by the fall, and is part of ongoing remediation activities at the site,” said ChevronTexaco Project Manager Michael Coats. “It is a visibly significant step in transforming this 66-acre former industrial site for redevelopment as a productive and vital mixed-use community in lower Bayonne.”
Rebuilding the pier is a joint effort between Chevron Land and Development, a ChevronTexaco Company, and the K-Land Corporation, a part of Kaplan Companies of Highland Park.
The plan calls for the pier to be reconstructed into a public use pier with a fishing area, benches, a gazebo, pavers, and decorative lighting and shore stabilization for the continuation of the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway.
Demolition is expected to cost about $2 million, and construction of the new pier should cost $1 million.
First step sends a signal to city officials
By declaring the Texaco site a redevelopment zone last year, the city hoped to push ChevronTexaco into coming up with a plan of its own. While plans were proposed, city officials wondered if they would ever come to fruition. The pier project is the first positive sign that the company has indeed taken the project seriously.
The 70-acre site has some environmental issues since it had stored oil for so long, and the cleanup would have to figure into any future plans.
In establishing the new Master Plan in 2000, the City of Bayonne looked to the waterfront as a key means of re-energizing the city’s economy by contributing public open space such as a waterfront walkway, new residential and commercial spaces, and recreation facilities.
The city has its own conceptual plan for the Texaco site, which also uses two adjoining properties. The redevelopment area – which is situated along Newark Bay and the Kill Van Kull – has about 13 parcels accessed at about $13 million. The Texaco site currently generates about $600,000 a year in taxes, many times less than what the property would generate if redeveloped.
The city’s proposal would include an equal mix of one- and two-family homes as well as two- and three-family attached townhouses. These would be similar to the Boatworks development just up Avenue A from the redevelopment zone.
The zone could also accommodate senior citizen units or assisted living units. Residences would include 10 percent affordable housing units – though half of these could be constructed in another portion of the city or received as a cash contribution to the city’s affordable housing trust fund.