Walk by on the nearest surface road and you’re likely to miss it. Drive over one of the looming viaducts, and you may see a yellow blur before Weehawken beckons. Whiz by on the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail, and it will present itself if you are keen-eyed, but only as a strange artifact, behind a fence and fading fast.
Ultimately, though, if you want to find the longest slide in Hoboken, you have to know to look for it in advance, which is unlikely unless you live in Hoboken’s extreme north end or play sports on the turf field of 1600 Park.
The park is the most recent to open in the city, the result of a nearly 20-year fight by local community groups and the last two mayoral administrations to preserve the land for open space. With the help of the Trust for Public Land, the city purchased the full 1600 Park property, which extends beyond the current finished space down to the Hoboken Cove waterfront, in 2006.
“We have probably four or five parks closer…but my older one especially, that’s where he always wants to go.”—Juan Melli
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Based on current observations, the secret of the 1600 Park slide is still not out for many Hobokenites. In five visits to the park over the past two weeks, The Hoboken Reporter frequently saw teams and individuals taking advantage of the turf field, but only one time saw a child on the slide.
Great slide, strange location
The slide has at least one big fan—city spokesman Juan Melli, who said the structure is a favorite of his sons, 3-year-old Christopher and 1-year-old Dylan. “We have probably four or five parks closer than [1600 Park],” said Melli, “but my older one especially, that’s where he always wants to go, when I let him.”
The slide’s location may make it a bit hard to get to. To the west and east of the 1600 Park is a county road overpass, as Willow and Park Avenue respectively continue into Weehawken. Just to the north, close enough for 1600 Park to look like its backyard, is a new 150-unit luxury apartment building called The Gateway. However, The Gateway is completely separated from the park by the fenced-in Hudson-Bergen Light Rail tracks, forcing any interested families to cross the Willow Avenue overpass in order to use the slide.
As such, the only way in and out of the park is through 16th street at its southern end. While the locale certainly leaves something to be desired, it is understandable that the city decided to place a park there, given how many contiguous acres of undeveloped land were available, a rarity in Hoboken’s dense reaches.
Something for the kids
According to Melli, the slide hill met a number of needs when the city was designing 1600 Park during Mayor Dawn Zimmer’s first term.
For the parents of children of disparate ages or interests, Melli said, the slide is “something to keep [younger children] entertained while their siblings are at practice or a game.” The hill also doubled as a viewing mound for the games played on the turf and a sledding area in the wintertime.
Most crucial of all, the hill gave the city somewhere to put tons of excess soil when it decided that it wanted to lower the 1600 Park turf field by around three feet. “The historic fill for the site had to remain on site,” explained Melli, “so by moving it on to this space, we were able to lower the elevation of the field.”
The turf field is still elevated above street level, but Melli said those three feet are the difference that allows ground level passers by to see what’s happening on the turf field surface.
The original 2012 master plan for 1600 Park and Hoboken Cove Park, as the section of open space stretching east of Park Avenue to the Hudson River walkway is now known, called for a full children’s play area at the northern end of 1600 Park, of which the slide would only be the first stage.
Melli said the city still intends to build out this playground, but will have to do extra work because it would be placed beneath the Willow Avenue overpass. “The county would not allow creating permanent structures that are attracting people there because of concerns about the potential for falling concrete,” said Melli, “so we’d have to create some type of net structure to catch any falling debris.”
Due to these concerns, Melli said, Hoboken also could not receive any Green Acres or county open space funding for this stage of the park.
Regardless, the city’s current priority with regards to executing the 1600 Park master plan is finishing the waterfront portion and boathouse, not the play area.
Carlo Davis may be reached at cdavis@hudsonreporter.com.