In June of 2010, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced its purchase of the 131-acre tract of waterfront property in Bayonne formerly called the Military Ocean Terminal Base (MOTBY). Six years later the peninsula is almost as barren as it was then, but a smaller 40-acre tract called Harbor Station South has been attracting developer interest for its waterfront location and easy access to Manhattan. The city even had a deal with Waitex, but the company pulled out in April, putting officials back at square one. Since the property has been on the market, Business Administrator Joe DeMarco has “met with a few different developers.” He said, “Some were substantial discussions. Some were brief…others expressed their visions as to what they wanted for Bayonne.”
“In May, the city issued a Request for Expressions of Interest in Redevelopment (REI) to outline the city’s goals for developers looking to build a new waterfront community. They include six main points: to raise property values, to generate tax revenue from those property values, to create “temporary and permanent” jobs for Bayonne residents, to create a “destination” for tourists and residents alike, complementing existing development on the Peninsula, and to create a “vibrant, exciting community experience.”
City officials carefully assembled an REI for the same reasons you would in an online dating profile: to be make clear intentions and to find the right match.
“The challenge is not creating a separate, distinct part of Bayonne but to create a place that is incorporated into the city and that ultimately becomes a part of the city. It’s like any development in that we want it to better the city and be a part of it. You don’t want to be isolated on its own.” – Joe DeMarco
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The proposal
The city last week heard a proposal from Brooklyn-based ACG Equities, LLC to buy the property at Harbor Station South for $57 million to build 3,000 to 5,000 residential units, office spaces, shopping centers, parks, a hotel, and a large banquet and convention center as part of a “self-contained residential” Hasidic Jewish enclave for “a growing community of professionals and various groups that seek a work-life balance,” according to the proposal. Hasidim are very religious Jews. Men wear large hats, peyot, beards, and long black coats, even in summer. Women cover their heads in public.
Hasidic communities tend to be economically isolated,and they usually only do business only with each other. They send their kids to community-funded, private religious schools called yeshivas, which means they don’t rely on city funds, and they want their host cities to know that. For cities in a bind, collecting tax revenue without providing services is like getting free money, a selling point for them.The proposal emphasizes in bold: “Absolutely no public dollars will be needed for schools,” because “All community members enroll strictly in private schools,” and the community has the “largest volunteer EMS network in the US.” Another reads, “We will not burden the City’s resources.”
“It’s more like self-sufficient,” Henry Kauftheil, attorney for ACG said. “It means we will not be beholden to city services. We would have our own schools.” He said the community pools its money to pay for community services, like a level of government smaller than the city. “There’s a lot of charity and education going on with very little crime,” he said. “When we say ‘insular,’ we mean it a way that won’t overburden city services.”
Urban problems
Hasidic Jewish culture is noted for its social seclusion and conservative religious beliefs. Members have been resettling in communities as close to Brooklyn as possible, such as Monsey, Monroe, and Lakewood. According to U.S. Census Data, only 20 percent of people ages 18-29 are married compared with 71 percent of Hasidic Jews of that age. Hasidic couples also tend to have more than four children, above the national average. The New York Times reported in 2013 that Orthodox Jews make up 32 percent of Jews overall, but in the New York City area, they make up 61 percent of Jewish children.
The Hasidic Jewish community is historically based in Borough Park, Brooklyn, where ACG’s offices are. As in other urban communities throughout the country, finding affordable housing where you grew up is tough, especially when you’re from one of the most expensive housing markets in the country. Like everyone else, Hasidim are looking for the next best thing.
Kauftheil said, “The community in Brooklyn is overcrowded, and there’s no economical housing for those getting married now and starting out. A small house is 2 million dollars. It’s crazy.” On top of a housing shortage for their current population, he said, “6,000 babies born in Maimonides Hospital [every year] …and schools here are bursting with tens of thousands of students. That’s been the cause of the problem.We have to find other places, and prices here are through the roof.”
People like Kauftheil often run into problems. In East Ramapo, for instance, the Hasidic population grew larger than the rest of the town to the point that it had voting power over the town. Without the need for schools or public services, the Hasidic community had the power to vote down budgets. Bayonne, a city of 65,000, is unlikely to experience anything like that because, as Kaufheil pointed out, “The community is very wide up there [in East Ramapo] and it’s created friction because they lived in suburban open spaces.” Because Hasidim live in dense populations, suburban areas are more prone to voting-block shifts such as the one in East Ramapo. “The beauty of this peninsula,” Kaufheil said, “is that it’s an area in of its own. It attracts us because we’re not getting in anyone’s way. The actual geographic setup is ideal in both size and location.”
Exclusively inclusive
Nevertheless, DeMarco said the city does not desire “exclusive” communities. “The challenge is not creating a separate, distinct part of Bayonne but to create a place that is incorporated into the city and that ultimately become a part of the city. It’s like any development in that we want it to better the city and be a part of it. You don’t want it to be isolated on its own.”Water surrounds the base on three sides and its only landlocked side is cut off from Bayonne by Route 440, so the base is already isolated. The city’s job is to mitigate that isolation and make the development as accessible as possible.
DeMarco said the issue has nothing to do with the rejection of a specific culture, but that the proposed development conflicts with the city’s goals. Other developers also proposed isolated communities. Although they were not religious, their vision still conflicted with that of the city. “Our discussions have run the gamut from Hasidic Jewish development to gated communities and for-sale two-story duplexes and townhomes.” DeMarco said. He cited one group “whose goal it was to make a part of [Harbor Station South] a gated community. Bayonne is not a place for gated communities.” He cited another developer, “who wanted to take 20 acres and put a wall around it to make a private community with 800 residential units with a clubhouse.” DeMarco admits the proposal is “very nice, but not open to the public. So I said to them the design doesn’t work because it doesn’t align with our vision.”
DeMarco said he wants the former military base to be a destination for everyone. “We want opportunities for residents throughout the whole city to go there to enjoy the views and to enjoy the space, whether it’s a new restaurant, coffee shop, store, whatever it is,” De Marco said. “We want open space that compliments and enhances Bayonne. I think everybody believes that their project enhances Bayonne, but it has to be a development that can be incorporated into the community.”
A cohesive vision
The city is clearly prioritizing a cohesive urban vision that embraces all walks of life. A priority, DeMarco emphasized, is getting a “for-sale component,” meaning “not just a rental community.” He says the city wants 20-30 percent of property on the base built for sale, which “supplies long-term stability because homeowners invest in the city. We don’t want everyone to rent here for two years and move on.”
A development deal is an integral step in the city’s Mater Plan, not to mention the $15 million budget shortfall caused by a previous development deal with Waitex that fell through in April. The city’s ability to break ground on a significant development means added tax revenue and the benefits that accompany it. But the way the new source of revenue interacts with the established community is just as important as the revenue itself.
Rory Pasquariello may be reached at roryp@hudsonreporter.com and @BayonneCmtyNews on Twitter.