Hoboken Terminal, 'crown jewel' of transportation, to get overhaul after 17-year delay

HOBOKEN — Wednesday's ceremonial groundbreaking for the soon-to-be restored historic city transportation terminal has been 17 years in the making — almost to the day.

On Oct. 12, 2005, NJ Transit signed off on an agreement to reimagine the 115-year-old portal where ferry, train, light rail, bus and PATH service converges into one of the state's most popular transit hubs.

Bureaucratic malaise set in, with delays, amended plans and a slowdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the 17 years since that agreement was signed, the state has had four governors, a train crashed into the terminal, leaving one dead and more than 100 injured, Superstorm Sandy left parts of the terminal closed for weeks, and the city has exploded in population.

With the help of $176 million in state money and renewed focus from the developer, LCOR, as well as city, NJ Transit and state officials, a deal brokered over the summer is leading to wide-ranging, phased improvements to the historic site.

The investments in the facility on New Jersey's Hudson River waterfront will include renovation of the first and second floors of the ferry terminal with exhibition space; a new bus terminal; a European-style plaza; residential and commercial space in two new towers; and public space improvements for cyclists and pedestrians.

"It’s the restoration of the rail terminal and the long-overdue return of a long-empty ferry terminal to the public sphere not merely because they are architecturally significant and historic buildings ... but because they can be re-envisioned to provide new amenities for commuters and bring something new to the Hoboken waterfront," said Gov. Phil Murphy.

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Restoring a 'crown jewel'

The projects are expected to be completed between 2025 and 2027.

NJ Transit President and CEO Kevin Corbett said the agency is looking forward to restoring this "crown jewel."

"It is almost impossible to overstate the importance of this terminal to NJ Transit and its customers," Corbett said. "What [this investment] is going to mean for economic confidence, for investment, for business people, for the residents cannot be overstated."

Assemblyman Raj Mukherji, who represents Hudson County, said this project will set a standard for the country in how to merge development, public transportation and affordable housing, since 20% of new residences must be affordable.

"It’s exactly the type of transit-oriented, mixed-use development that we need to beat both the climate change and the housing affordability challenges and crises that we face in these dense, walkable communities centered around reliably accessible public transit," he said.

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In addition to serving tens of thousands of commuters on a regular basis, it's a go-to alternative when there are issues at other transit hubs. That includes the Port Authority Bus Terminal, which sometimes faces delays from the Lincoln Tunnel, and New York Penn Station, which is fed by 112-year-old tunnels that are at risk of failure if repairs and additional tunnels through the Gateway program cannot be made before saltwater corrosion forces them to be shut down for rehabilitation.

NJ Transit has been at work on other, less shiny projects at the terminal, including the Long Slip Fill resiliency program to fill the canal next to the rail yard, upgrade and expand electrical power capacity, and build new accessible platforms in the event of flooding.

The agency has unleashed billions in capital projects in recent years, continuing with the state money from the debt defeasance fund, an account set up by the state using money it borrowed in the pandemic to pay for capital projects. In addition to the Hoboken project, the Legislature, as part of the budget negotiations this summer, approved $814 million that will go toward, seven additional transit projects across the state.

"Without that commitment, we cannot go to contract," Corbett said. "In fact, we have 20 rail stations not only in design but under active construction; our head of capital programs, Rick Schaefer, noted that there hasn't been this much active station work on our rail system at one time since the 1800s, when they were originally built."

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Hoboken NJ Transit terminal getting townhomes, upgrades