Two major additions to the Hoboken waterfront – a waterfront walkway from the train station to downtown Jersey City and the long-awaited park at Pier C – should be ready by September, city officials said.
Pier C Park is on Sinatra Drive between Third and Fourth streets near the W Hotel. The 2.5-acre park will feature a grassy area and a pre-school play area that includes “structures for climbing and hiding, slides, and sand play and water play,” according to the city.
The pier will contain a grassy area and a toddler play area.
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A circular structure to be connected to the pier was designed as a beach volleyball court, but is being left out of the initial building phase. Officials have said they have the option to add the court structure at a later date.
The original pier has a long history in Hoboken, and was one of the locations for the film “On the Waterfront.” In 2000, as part of a waterfront revival, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey contributed $24 million for the demolition of the original Pier C and creation of a waterfront park.
After years of planning and some delay, Hoboken Construction Code Official Al Arezzo was removed from the project in 2007 after Mayor David Roberts testified to the state that Arezzo was dragging his feet over a jurisdictional dispute.
The state Department of Community Affairs (DCA) took control of the Pier C construction code duties, as well as another project that Arezzo was removed from.
City officials met with EIC Associates, the construction company for the Pier C project, for a status update this past Wednesday. The company said that a few key elements to the project may delay the opening from the end of August to the end of September.
“Some of the critical elements have to come from offshore,” according to city Director John Pope, “so if they get stuck in Customs, then we go from there.”
Recent rumors have circulated that EIC was not being paid by the city, which city officials denied. City payments are current, according to spokesman Paul Drexel, and there has not been any delay in payment.
The park itself cost just under $20 million and was paid for by the city, the Port Authority, and state Green Acres grant funding.
Barring any unforeseen major delay, the park will likely open in September, officials said.
Next stop, Newport
As part of a continuous waterfront walkway project from Bayonne to Fort Lee, New Jersey Transit is almost finished with construction of the portion that connects southern Hoboken to the Newport section of Jersey City.
Long Slip Canal, as it was known in Hoboken’s industrial days, is a portion of the southern waterfront behind the tracks of NJ Transit’s trainyards.
The Long Slip Pedestrian Bridge will connect the Hoboken Terminal Light Rail station to Newport and is funded in part by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) project. The FTA contributed over $6.4 million to the bridge construction.
The bridge is in the final phase of construction and must be inspected by the DCA once the last touches are complete.
NJ Transit said the project should be finished sometime in August, according to spokesman Joe Dee.
“We’ve made a lot of progress there,” Dee said. “There’s only a few things we need to take care of.”
The bridge runs along the back of the proposed 36-acre transit village site that NJ Transit hopes will include a 70-story commercial tower and residential hi-rise towers. However, some city activists believe the project should be scaled well down.
Timothy J. Carroll may be reached at tcarroll@hudsonreporter.com.