NY Waterway makes progress in rebuilding its maintenance facility in Weehawken with a $6.3 million federal grant

On September 17, the Jersey Journal reported that the U.S. Department of Transportation Passenger Ferry Program awarded NY Waterway a $6.3 million grant to assist in rebuilding its maintenance facility in Weehawken. The grant will provide funds to install a wave attenuator to protect the new facility from wakes, high tides and flooding. 

Eighteen months ago, Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner had threatened to condemn the property owned by NY Waterway (via Romulus Development Corp.) to force the company to scale back its plans for a new facility. In the Journal article, Mayor Turner expressed the need for a regional solution. But in Tuesday’s article, Mayor Turner took credit for preventing the expansion of the maintenance facility in Weehawken and acknowledged that an alternate site could not be found.

“If they are going to revamp the existing facility, we want to see if it can be made much better,” Mayor Turner told the Jersey Journal. “We said to the state they should help electrify the boats, which would eliminate the (noise and possible water pollution) issues.”

The grant was announced by Congressman Rob Menendez who stated, “This grant will ensure that our transit system is more resilient, reliable, and fulfilling the needs of New Jerseyans and people throughout the region.” NY Waterway worked closely with NJ Transit to secure this grant money.

While NY Waterway rebuilds its facilities in Weehawken, it will maintain its ferry fleet in Hoboken at the former Union Dry Dock site. 

In November 2017, an epic battle ensued when NY Waterway purchased – without notifying local elected officials or the community – the Union Dry Dock property seeking to locate its ferry maintenance and refueling facility there. Several years earlier, FBW had urged the City to acquire the Dry Dock site to secure one of the final links in Hoboken’s continuous, public park along the Hudson River shoreline, a plan first proposed by FBW in 1990. 

In 2017, FBW teamed up with newly elected Hoboken Mayor, Ravi Bhalla, other local elected officials and various local organizations to pressure Gov. Phil Murphy and NJ Transit to find an alternate site for the NY Waterway maintenance facility. After a multi-year battle, a settlement was reached.

The lease between the City of Hoboken and NY Waterway was part of this settlement agreement, brokered in part by the Governor’s office, that allowed the City of Hoboken to acquire the Union Dry Dock site for use as a public park, later named Maritime Park. The City paid NY Waterway the agreed-upon purchase price of $18.5 million earlier this year.