(March 2000)

On Monday, March 20, developers Danny Gans and George Vallone publicly unveiled their plans for “Maxwell Haus,” a 950 unit, $300 million complex that preserves several of bauhaus style buildings at the former coffee plant along the Hoboken waterfront. Planner Jane Thompson of Thompson Design Group in Boston who assisted with the presentation, designed the over-all layout of this luxury residential project. Ms. Thompson has worked on a number of high profile, festival marketplace style projects developed by the Rouse Company, including Fanueil Hall in Boston, Harborfront in Baltimore and South Street Seaport in Manhattan.

Maxwell Haus will consist of a number of new buildings, some rising as high as 125 feet and the restoration of three of the buildings built in 1938. Rows of townhouses occupy two piers and one of the preserved structures sits at the water’s edge between these piers. Parking will be provided for 1600 cars, some of which would be located in front of Elysian Park. The rooftop of this garage would be landscaped and connected to Elysian Park by a bridge spanning Sinatra Drive. There will be 160,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space on the ground floor level. Total residential and commercial development comes to 1.28 million square feet.

Despite the last-minute notice, a crowd of about 75 Hoboken residents attended this presentation at St. Matthews Parish Hall. Recent battles over other development projects prompted the developers to stress that no variances would be required to build this project. An earlier proposal to build a series of high-rise towers was withdrawn after consultation with Hoboken City Council representatives.

Citizen participation in the planning and development of Hoboken’s waterfront has prompted the implementation of a continuous waterfront park along the water’s edge, clearly defined by a roadway separating the public waterfront from the upland private development. This public waterfront, partially built, will be 80% completed within the next several years. Concerns were raised at this meeting by the Coalition for a Better Waterfront and others that the Maxwell Haus project is privatizing the riverfront with its buildings on the piers and at the water’s edge. Examples of other waterfront developments where the public does not feel welcome such as Riva Point, located on a Weehawken pier, were cited. (See Planning Waterfront Communities.)

The 950 units at Maxwell Haus would be built just south of two other major waterfront projects, the Shipyard with its 1160 units and Hoboken Cove with 865. These three projects alone will be adding over 6,000 new residents to the north end of Hoboken and 4,000 additional cars. The heights and densities of these projects were established after the City of Hoboken permitted Applied Companies to rewrite the code for the I-1(W) zoning district in 1995 to accommodate their plans for the Shipyard project.

Gans and Vallone expressed their interest in listening to all concerns from local residents and their willingness to hold future sessions to resolve any problems that their proposal presented. Once their plans are finalized, the Hoboken Planning Board will hold hearings giving the developers an opportunity to present their expert witnesses, including their planner, architect, engineer and traffic expert. Site plan approval must be granted by the Board before the project can move forward.

FBW Editorial