Dear Chairman Aibel and Board Members of the Hoboken Board of Adjustment:
This letter is submitted by the Hoboken Chamber of Commerce Board of Trustees in support of Stevens Institute of Technology’s application for their Gateway project located on Hudson and Sixth Streets.
Stevens occupies a unique and critical position in Hoboken, both physically and in the City’s commercial landscape. Its staff, students, visitors and parents contribute significantly to Hoboken’s economy. Not only do many of its students graduate and excel thereafter — becoming corporate leaders or technological innovators — but in specific instances they stay close to their academic roots. For example, this past fall at the Hoboken Chamber of Commerce’s business awards dinner one recipient was a company formed by a Stevens graduate that employs twenty people here in Hoboken.
In large measure Hoboken and Stevens share a symbiotic relationship. In recent years, as Hoboken’s fortunes have risen so too have Stevens’s. Its national and international reputation serves as a vital goodwill ambassador for the City. And, with a core focus on technology-based education, the very lifeblood to innovation and economic development, Stevens’s reputation is ascending and will for years to come. In these respects, the proposed Gateway project is a tangible bellwether to Stevens’s and the City’s present and future transformation into preeminence.
Not only does the proposal meet the institution’s needs, but also replaces dilapidated structures and an open air parking lot. In their place will be two buildings attached by a pedestrian skywalk. Combined they will provide a prestigious entry point to the school’s campus and become a landmark in the City.
Support for the Gateway project is not based solely on economics or aesthetics. It is influenced by the proactive approach exhibited by Stevens. Since the initial submission nearly a year ago, Stevens has met with neighbors and other community leaders. The collaborative effort has brought forth a plan that aligns the proposed buildings with the Carnegie Laboratory located south of the site as well as the Union Club across Hudson Street. Stevens’s openness and receptiveness to commentary and refinement has led in large measure to this decision to support the Gateway project.
In closing, Stevens Institute of Technology’s deeply ingrained position in the fabric of the community, together with its thoughtfulness in permitting the proposal to coordinate harmoniously with community concerns, as well as pre-eminence as an institution of higher learning, lead us to unequivocally support the Gateway project.
Very truly yours,
Richard W. Mackiewicz, Jr., Esq.
President