Mayor Richard Turner was joined by residents, members of the Township Council and the Planning Board, and developers from Roseland Properties Tuesday to officially open the new Pershing Park, located on the waterfront near the former Arthur’s Landing restaurant.
“What you see before you is spectacular,” said Turner on Tuesday. “This is a [public/private] partnership. It shows how waterfront development can work for everyone.”
The park takes up three quarters of an acre and includes benches, a lawn sitting area, and a fountain.
“One of the biggest things government can do is make open space for no cost to the residents.” – Richard Turner
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Pershing Park is named after nearby Pershing Road, which was named after World War I hero Gen. John Pershing.
A place to ‘park’ it
The $2 million cost was completely paid by Roseland Properties as part of their development agreement with the town.
In fact, Roseland – which has built several condominium properties along the riverfront in lower Weehawken – has paid for all of the parks, promenades, and recreation facilities along their own waterfront development.
“Part of the Port Imperial story is the regeneration and reuse of land,” said Andrew Marshall, an operating partner at Roseland. “We’re very pleased. We really tried to make this a nice, pleasant open space.”
Although dogs aren’t explicitly welcomed or banned at the park, Marshall said they’re hoping the space won’t “go to the dogs” with careless owners who don’t pick up after their pooches.
He pointed out that on the north side of the Rivers Edge building, there is a community dog run with canine grass.
Carl Goldberg, a managing partner at Roseland, said the park is an addition to the quality of life in Weehawken.
“We at Roseland Properties are proud to be a part of this,” said Goldberg. He added that township officials always made abundantly clear to them that a significant percentage of their development had to be land open to all residents.
A team approach
Several people who helped make the park possible were thanked at the ribbon cutting, including residents who were instrumental in its creation and Weehawken landscaping consultant Kim Mathews, who worked in collaboration with Thomas Carman. Carman was the landscape architect for the project and is a principal at Melillo and Bauer Associates, the landscape architecture design company hired to create the park.
Turner also commended the Planning Board and council for working together and supporting the project and all of the open spaces that have been created in Weehawken recently.
“We originally had 12 acres of open space,” said Turner. “We’ve added 18 acres and we’ve more than doubled the amount of open space in the town. It’s a tremendous accomplishment.”
Turner added that most of the parks were added as a condition of all the development that takes place in the township.
“One of the biggest things government can do is make open space for no cost to the residents,” said Turner.
Uniting upper and lower Weehawken
As development on the waterfront continues, township officials are making a concerted effort to maintain unity between upper and lower Weehawken, areas that are separated by a 180-foot cliff.
In particular, Turner said he wants to ensure that the waterfront area feels like a part of the township.
The Weehawken shuttle (which brings residents between the two areas) and a division between township amenities (recreation facilities on the waterfront and the library and schools in upper Weehawken) have helped give people a reason to go back and forth.
“We have truly done everything possibly to unite upper Weehawken and lower Weehawken,” said Turner.
Greening the township
Weehawken has been turning different shades of green as township officials continue their efforts to improve quality of life in the town.
Turner said that besides developer contributions, two other factors help create open space: state Green Acres funding and the overall attention on the “green movement.”
Two more parks are slated to be completed over the next year, including one at 19th street and another to be built on a portion of the American Legion property on Boulevard East.
Approvals were recently obtained to subdivide the land at that property and for the new American Legion building.
Lana Rose Diaz can be reached at ldiaz@hudsonreporter.com.