Weehawken officials gathered at the former site of the infamous Park Avenue Hotel on Monday morning to break ground for a new 28-unit, $7.4 million senior citizen affordable housing complex.
“Sunshine bodes well for a great project,” said Weehawken Affordable Housing Director Dom Facchini at the groundbreaking. “We focused on trying to build a building that is in tune with the neighborhood, and I think it’s going to be an architectural showpiece for the district.”
“This will be a much-needed second senior housing development in Weehawken,” Director of Community Development and Housing Susan Burns said in an interview. The town already runs a senior affordable complex at 2 Potter Place.
Burns added, “It’s nice to know that people will be able to age in peace and with dignity in this neighborhood.”
“There’s a long history with the building behind me,” said Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner to those gathered, “but this is just a great improvement for Weehawken and for Park Avenue.”
He thanked and then pointed at the project’s construction manager, Brian Lenchek, and said, “That’s the [person] we’re going to yell at every day. You have no idea what you’re in for, Brian,” accompanied by the crowd’s laughter.
“This ward is full of vitality, and this building will add to it,” Deputy Mayor and 3rd Ward Councilman Robert Sosa said. He mentioned the neighborhood’s great views, the Elks Club, and “the dog run, for example, which my miniature Pinscher is very happy about.”
A not-so-sunny past
“My bedroom and kitchen window on 47th Street has been facing this lot since 1965, so I’m looking forward to looking out my window and not having to see any more of these types of things,” said Sosa as he pointed to a photocopy of a headline from 2006.
The headline referred to a murder that occurred at the hotel.
“This was an old single occupancy hotel, as you all know, and as I’m sure you’ll see, the Weehawken Reporter will go into it,” Turner said. “It had a history of a lot of criminal history both inside and outside the building.”
Turner referred to various criminals who were living at the hotel, including a pair of burglars who were alleged to have left their child at the hotel. And of course, there was the murder of 18-year-old Bergen County resident Jennifer Moore that occurred in 2006 after she was picked up on a street in New York City by a couple who promised to drive her home to her house in New Jersey. Instead, they brought her to the hotel and killed her.
When the crimes did not stop, Turner said, the Weehawken Town Council wanted the property gone. They first had to condemn it, a very long process that began in 2009 and was completed halfway through 2010. Then they leveled the building.
“If you’re going to improve a neighborhood,” Turner said, “you’re going to have to get rid of those buildings and individuals that adversely affect the neighborhood.”
“This is just a great improvement for Weehawken and for Park Avenue.” – Richard Turner
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The last of its kind?
“Since I’ve become the county executive,” County Executive Tom DeGise told the crowd, “the county of Hudson and the town of Weehawken have partnered in over 130 units of affordable housing, and we’re very, very pleased to add these 28 onto that.”
However, he continued, a project of this magnitude may not happen again for years due to governmental funding cuts.
“I think it’s a little bit of a cautionary tale,” DeGise said. “Funds we’ve used for projects like this throughout Hudson County have been slashed by the government by 45 percent. It is unfortunate that our home fronts have become a political casualty.”
Perhaps to lighten the mood a bit, DeGise concluded by turning to Lenchek and saying, “Mayor Turner wasn’t kidding, boy. You’re gonna’ have some experience working for him.”
He advised that the project be completed as quickly as possible, amid the crowd’s laughter.
28 single units
“We weren’t planning on [breaking ground] so early in the year,” Turner said, “but given the weather, things are moving along very fast as you can see.”
The new complex at 4800 Park Ave. will boast 28 single bedroom units for seniors who qualify for low-income housing with an annual income of $25,000 or less. There will be two units of commercial space on the ground floor, along with parking and easy access in and out of building, Facchini said. Transportation to and from Weehawken’s other senior buildings will be provided by the town.
Interested seniors may call the Weehawken Senior Housing Corp. at (201) 583-1423.
The building will be constructed with “a composite of funding,” according to Turner. Part of the $7.4 million mortgage comes from the Bank of New Jersey, part comes from the Home Loan Program, and Weehawken Township was issued a bond that will be paid over time from the affordable housing money received from waterfront developers as a giveback, he continued.
“Without the waterfront, we’d have to bear the whole burden of the township’s $2.5 million contribution,” Turner said.
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