A multi-story residential building at the former Bayonne Community Bank location at 5th Street and Broadway and The Promenade at Bayonne, a downtown waterfront residential project, are two of the development projects picking up steam, according to city officials.
Kaplan Companies’ Promenade, former site of the Texaco Oil Terminal, at the southwest corner of the city, by the Kill Van Kull and Newark Bay waterfronts, has had its first 300 units approved by the Bayonne Planning Board, according to Business Administrator Joseph DeMarco. Depending on market demand, the overall project could have as many as 1,000 residential units, as well as 60,000 square feet of offices and more than 100,000 square feet of retail, a marina, and two city parks.
DeMarco said that remedial work at the initial building site for the Promenade was completed and could now move forward. “It’s anticipated that the first quarter of next year foundation work will start,” DeMarco said. “This time next year you should see buildings where there were empty lots.”
The site will see incremental change over the next few years, but that in itself is a major victory.
“Last night’s Planning Board meeting is a brand new chapter” for the former Texaco site, DeMarco said, adding that it has taken 27 years (1988-2015) for building to start there.
At that same meeting, the Planning Board recommended that the 5th Street former BCB branch site be designated an area in need of development, DeMarco said, setting the stage for a closer look at the property and an additional review at the Planning Board’s June meeting.
Harbor Station South
Uptown at the Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor, the Chinese import/export company Waitex is getting back to the city by mid-June with a more detailed concept for a retail development for Harbor Station South that it is seeking to build.
“We will determine that they are the developer to move forward with it, or whether we have to reevaluate,” DeMarco said.
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“The idea is like pebbles in a river, having a ripple effect.” – Joseph DeMarco
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The administration is seeking to revitalize Bayonne’s traditional shopping area on Broadway, but DeMarco said the city has determined that it would be hard to do that for the whole two-and-a-half-mile district, one of the longest for any single city in the state.
Instead, he said Mayor James Davis has come up with the idea of having three Broadway “epicenters”; the 5th Street plan, the Rendina Health Care Real Estate medical center project between 23rd and 24th streets, and the development of the Resnick Hardware property at 46th Street.
“The idea is like pebbles in a river, having a ripple effect,” DeMarco said.
The administration is betting that if those three projects are successful, they will cause expansion on those three sections of the avenue and more.
“The belief is that it will now spread, creating additional pockets of business on Broadway,” he said.
Joseph Passantino may be reached at JoePass@hudsonreporter.com.To comment on this story online visit www.hudsonreporter.com.To comment on this story online visit www.hudsonreporter.com.