BREAKING: Port Liberty cruise port expansion could mean first hotel for Bayonne

BAYONNE — With the approval of a new $50 million expansion of Port Liberty cruise port in Bayonne by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the city may be on the verge of inking an agreement for the development of a new hotel and possible complex to accommodate incoming and outgoing passengers.
The Port Authority announced this week that Royal Caribbean also plans to base the region’s largest cruise vessel at the new Bayonne facility beginning in 2014.
In response, the Port Authority Board of Commissioners today approved plans by Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines to build a new cruise terminal building at the Port Authority-owned marine terminal facility in Bayonne – a major public investment that will spur continued growth in the New Jersey cruise business.
As part of its expansion plans, Royal Caribbean also agreed to base its new Quantum of the Seas vessel – the largest cruise ship serving the New York-New Jersey region – at Bayonne beginning in 2014. The new vessel, which can accommodate up to 4,180 passengers, will sail to the Caribbean, Bahamas, Florida, and Bermuda.
City officials said this could lead the way to redevelopment of a portion of the former Military Ocean Terminal that still owned by the city for a possible hotel.
The Port Authority acquired the Cape Liberty Cruise Terminal in June 2010 as part of its purchase of the 131-acre portion of the former Military Ocean Terminal at Bayonne.
But the city still owns several key parcels of land, where a hotel complex had been proposed in the past.
As part of the agreement allowing construction of the cruise terminal building, the Port Authority agreed to extend Royal Caribbean’s operating agreement for the terminal for an additional five years through 2043.
“The cruise industry is one of this region’s most rapidly growing markets, and this private sector investment will enhance our ability to generate significant revenues from the waterfront property we own,” said Port Authority Chairman David Samson. “With the region’s largest vessel scheduled to dock at this port facility, we will be able to grow the jobs and economic activity that the cruise business has generated for this region for many decades.”