Now that the multimillion dollar renovation of the 14th Street Viaduct in northern Hoboken is complete, various restaurants and businesses with hip amenities have opened just north of the historic bridge, as well as small residential buildings boasting unusual architecture. With a cobblestone path, new park, dog run, two community theater groups, and a cooking school, the former industrial region is transforming into a unique neighborhood.
It’s a bit reminiscent of DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) in Brooklyn. So perhaps it deserves its own acronym – how about NoVHo, North of the Viaduct in Hoboken?
“That works,” laughed Joe Jones, co-owner of Carpe Diem, a cozy corner tavern that opened just north of the Viaduct in 2006. “When we set up in 2006, [a new neighborhood] is what we envisioned, but it took a lot longer with the economy. We pitched it as a neighborhood bar. Our business is growing because the neighborhood is growing. A lot of people say, ‘Oh, my God, I remember this place when there was no one coming by.’ They say how nice and safe and clean it is and how much of a difference it has been.”
The 14th Street Viaduct, a county road, runs uphill from Hoboken’s northern border into the Palisades Cliff of Union City and Jersey City Heights. Until recently, the area north of the bridge was home largely to manufacturers and bus companies. But parcel by parcel, it is being redeveloped into a vibrant community. Last year, the county completed a three-year, $54 million renovation to the 106-year-old bridge. Then, the city added a park, dog run, and basketball court underneath it near the cliffs to the west.
In just the last few months, the area has lured a patchwork of diverse and interesting businesses and community groups. Mile Square Theater – whose huge glass windows invite passersby to peer in and find out about the next show – moved in last year and performed “Cyrano.” Hoboken Children’s Theater followed.
The area has lured a patchwork of diverse businesses and community groups.
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Indeed, the Bow Tie Cinemas theater, a first-run movie theater just south of the Viaduct at Fourteenth and Grand streets, became part of the neighborhood in 2009 and is one of the area’s anchors.
Also popular is the Hoboken Pilsener Haus & Biergarten, which opened in 2011 on two stories of an industrial-looking brick building at Fifteenth and Grand streets. Every night, it fills its long tables with a convivial crowd of young, thirsty patrons.
The neighborhood still hosts bus facilities and industrial businesses, not to mention some sidewalks in need of repair, but it’s clearly turning into a place with a character all its own.
Food you can’t find elsewhere
Just south of the Viaduct is a mini-mall containing Adventures in Learning, which is part of a group of local day care and pre-K centers, and an Italian restaurant with gourmet pizzas, San Giuseppe Coal Fired Pizza and Cucina.
“We’ve been here three years,” said San Giuseppe owner Joe Russo. “We saw the whole thing going up. It’s definitely growing. We get very busy on weekends. It’s a good area. It’s very pretty. I hope we see festivals or a farmer’s market.”
He added, “People have started jogging here, started taking their children, you see that too. People take their dogs for a walk.”
Hoboken’s only restaurant that exclusively serves barbecue is also in the area. Chris Lowther opened Smokin’ Barrel this past fall. Restaurants like his that are south of the Viaduct are still part of NoVHo’s draw. Even though it specializes in succulent ribs, Smokin’ Barrel also boasts a few vegetarian options like macaroni and cheese. It’s located at 13th Street and Willow Avenue.
“I think people are still learning about this part of town,” Lowther said. “Yeah, we’re off Washington Street, but we’re only four blocks. We’re going to have more retail places going across the street. I heard rumors that it’ll be Trader Joe’s.”
He added, “I think it’s an up-and-coming neighborhood. It’s going to be a tremendous asset to the town, a tremendous hotspot. Within the next three years I think you’ll see much more development in this area.”
Living and working there
The restaurants and theaters aren’t the only unique businesses in the area. Karlene McLeod, who has lived for a year in the Artisan low-rise residential building just north of the Viaduct, plans to open her Baby Boot Camp business next door later this month, helping mothers work out with or without their baby.
McLeod just had her second son.
“I take my son to the movies across the road and there are so many parks for the children,” she said. “I am pleased they have created a basketball court and play area right on our doorstep so we have many options once the weather gets warmer…We like to pop into local pub, Carpe Diem. The beer garden is lovely in summer. Columbus Park [four blocks south] is great for my boys. I also love the fact that it is extremely accessible to the city so we get the best of both worlds.”
For those who want to know how far NoVHo is from New York City, well, a short walk up the Viaduct – surprisingly – allows one to see the flashing billboards of Times Square. The Viaduct is seven blocks west of the Hudson River and only a few blocks from buses that head into and out of the city.
Some of Hoboken’s visionaries saw the value of the area long ago. Brian Battaglia has run a unique housewares and furniture business in Hoboken since 1993. In 2008, he combined his two stores on Washington Street and moved them into a larger Battaglia’s on Fifteenth and Willow, next to Hertz Rent a Car. Besides housewares and furniture, they sell one-of-a-kind gifts.
“Obviously for me it’s exciting,” he said last week. “We thought that was going to happen and the recession kind of kicked in and slowed everything down. Now it seems everything is catching up. It’s a great area to do something new and different, for businesses that wouldn’t pay to be on Washington Street, more unique, artsy businesses.”
Learn to cook
Hudson Table offers cooking classes and is one of the most unique businesses in the area. Each night, working beside the floor-length glass windows that seem popular in the neighborhood, a bevy of individuals and couples learns to whip up gourmet meals. Hoboken resident Allen Bari, 30, opened the establishment in November and has filled the room each night. He envisions hosting special events and chef’s tables.
“We signed a lease a year and a half ago,” he said. “Even in the last year and a half [the area has] developed tenfold. I have a video of when we started and there were still bricks on the side of the Viaduct.”
Bari is a graduate of the French Culinary Institute and runs the business with Melanie Cecilio of Edgewater, a professional chef. He said the business runs 60 different classes. The handmade pasta and steak classes are the most popular.
Fit and feelin’ good
Besides all that eating, the area seems to be a hotspot for clever fitness options. One of them is Koko FitClub, located at 1320 Adams St., the same mini-mall as San Giuseppe and Adventures in Learning. Fans of the club say it does a good job of helping newbies get started and get fit.
Even more unique, GoRow Studios has a large space in the Biergarten building, 1422 Grand St., drawing patrons from all over town to use their rowing machines and weights. Their massive open space allows for a full raft of fitness and cardio regimens. RushCycling is also in that building, allowing use of the bike equipment.
Development plans and debates
Even the housing in NoVHo looks different. Most of the buildings are low-rises with unique designs and environmentally friendly features.
One of them, Edge Lofts, is situated on the same corner as Hudson Table and the Children’s Theater. It was built by Bijou, a company that has four projects in that a part of town and has won awards for its LEED-certified buildings in Hoboken. Bijou also just completed a hard-to-miss 212-unit Park and Garden that greets visitors to the northern entrance of Hoboken with its huge glass windows. It even contains some of Hoboken’s rare three-bedroom units.
All in all, hundreds of new families and individuals are moving in or have moved into northwest Hoboken recently.
Not every project for that area wins city approval. The administration of Mayor Dawn Zimmer, concerned about overdevelopment and a lack of open space, is wary of big developments. Last summer, controversy erupted in town when the Zoning Board declined approval for a $110 million, 267-unit complex with a bowling alley and rock climbing wall, slated for 13th and Jefferson streets at the western end of the Viaduct. Many felt the project, to be built by the same developers who renovated the beer garden building, would be good for the town, particularly on a corner without a lot of activity. Some felt the board failed to listen to the will of the people. The developers have the option of scaling the project down and resubmitting it.
As developments go, there is another that may be much more controversial. Among the still- undeveloped plots of land in the area are three parcels at Willow Avenue and Fifteenth Street that were bought over the last 10 years by the Rockefeller Group in New York. The group was said to be pushing for a 40-story office tower and other projects. The proposal became controversial in 2013 when Mayor Zimmer alleged that officials in the administration of Gov. Christopher Christie pressured her to expedite approvals for a redevelopment zone that would help the project. Zimmer said the officials insinuated that Hurricane Sandy aid would be tied to her actions.
Last summer, City Hall said it expected to find a planner to draw up the North End Rehabilitation Area, encompassing the region north of 14th Street and west of Park Avenue.
Transit, new flats in the future
In any case, the city’s northwest section will likely get a new transportation option in the next few years. NJ Transit has plans to build a new stop for its Hudson-Bergen Light Rail at 16th and Clinton streets, just two blocks north of the Viaduct. For a few bucks, riders will be able to start out in Bayonne, Jersey City, North Bergen, Union City, or Weehawken and zip back and forth through the western part of Hoboken, along the base of the Palisade cliff. The train already stops at several locations further south in town, including the Lackawanna Terminal.
One new development slated to open soon at 1414 Grand St. bills itself as “Novia Flats,” obviously taking its own name from the proximity to the Viaduct. Its advertising describes the neighborhood as “Soho meets Meatpacking District” and it boasts of being the city’s “only geothermal live work mixed use project” with high ceilings, a glass façade, and live/work apartments.
“Hoboken needs mixed use,” said real estate agent Tony Soares, who has listed the commercial space in that building. “I was a big supporter of the bowling alley and the rock climbing gym. We need a restaurant row back there. We need stores and shops. Time is of the essence.”
Walkin’ the dog
The city of Hoboken opened a small children’s park, basketball court, and dog park at the far west end of the Viaduct last month, below the Palisades cliff. On a recent Sunday afternoon, three people were in the dog run with four dogs.
As dog walkers do, they had their complaints: the fence around the dog run is too high off the ground, leading to errant balls rolling out of the park. However, they are pleased that the run exists and that the neighborhood is transforming.
Theresa Mazza, who moved to 11th Street in 2009, was walking her scrappy 11-month-old bulldog, George. “It’s great to have a dog park,” she said. “It’s definitely an up-and-coming area. I frequent the cinema, the pizza place, obviously the Biergarten. I heard a rumor that Trader Joe’s is coming.”
She wasn’t sure about giving the area a name like NoVHo, but she said she sometimes uses “uptown” and “downtown” to get more specific about Hoboken.
Further east, Tashina Rao was pushing her child in a stroller under the Viaduct. She said she’s enjoying the transformation of the neighborhood.
“I saw there’s a kitchen/restaurant kind of thing,” said Rao, who lives a few blocks south of the bridge. “It’s much easier to walk through now.”