The City’s lease of the Sinatra Park Cafe raises serious questions about the nature of our public parks
FBW | August 1, 2024
This past March, the City of Hoboken put out a request for proposals to lease the Sinatra Park Cafe. Since 2015, this structure has been occupied by Blue Eyes Restaurant, making it accessible only to people who can afford its price for lunch or dinner. The fixed price menu ranges from $55 per person (Option 1) to $75 (Option 3). Add to that tax and tip, plus cocktails, beer or wine, and you are well beyond an inexpensive night out.
When FBW developed its 1990 Plan for the Hoboken Waterfront, we started with the premise that the water’s edge belonged to the public. All the land on the river-side of Sinatra Drive would be dedicated to a park accessible to all, exclusively for the public’s use and benefit. Private uses — residential and commercial development, including restaurants and cafes — were to be located on upland blocks. Sinatra Drive would provide a clear delineation between these public and private spaces.
Locating private uses in the park presents a problem detracting from the very nature of a public park. Since Sinatra Park was purchased with state Green Acres funding, the NJDEP must approve this lease and will evaluate any lease agreement that diverts any part of the park from its designated use for recreation or conservation purposes.
In 2005, a hot dog at the Sinatra Park Cafe cost $3.25. For $5, you could get an Italian sausage sandwich or a cheeseburger. You could also get sodas, smoothies, Italian ices and French fries for a few bucks each. The cafe, as originally conceived, was affordable and served the patrons of the park. not a clientele seeking a fine dining experience.
The City’s criteria for evaluating responses to its RFP, of course, include competitiveness of the lease fee and revenue sharing agreement, as well as cost proposals for upgrading the cafe area. The indoor seating area is 650 square feet. In 2015, the enclosed patio was added, providing 924 additional square feet. As a result, people walking or running along Hoboken’s waterfront walkway are forced into a narrow 6 foot-wide strip between the enclosed patio and the amphitheater that steps down to the river. This violates the State DEP’s requirement for a paved 16 foot-wide walkway.
The issues raised with the Sinatra Park Cafe could be repeated at Maritime Park on the former Union Dry Dock site. The City of Hoboken hired a professional team assembled by Dattner Architects to design the 4-acre Maritime Park at a whopping cost of $74.5 million. The final report produced by Dattner included a proposal to generate up to $111,000 in annual revenue for the 1,900-square-foot Community Hub building as well as $55,000 for the 1,900-square-foot roof deck by leasing to a private operator. If the City decides to use this “community” space to generate revenue to help pay for the park’s exorbitant price tag, an upscale restaurant could be selected. Such a lease, diverting a portion of the park from its intended use as public open space, would be subject to a referendum, requiring voter approval.*
At the south waterfront, the design for the 5-acre Pier A Park included five small kiosks, two of which have been used for concessions. The small footprint of these structures ensured that very little parkland would be usurped for private use. From First Street up to Fourth along Sinatra Drive, there are a series of ground-floor restaurants and bars available to people — Lola Cocktail Lab & Eatery, Wicked Wolf Tavern, Halifax, UH Hoboken, Answorth, Del Frisco’s Grille and House of Que — thus keeping to FBW’s original concept of confining private uses to the upland blocks.
Since 1990, FBW has successfully fought to prevent many private projects from being built on the river-side of Sinatra Drive, including a 33-story office complex for Pier A, 500,000 square feet of residential development on Pier C and townhouses slated for the piers at Maxwell Place. As a result, the water’s edge is clearly dedicated to the public for most of Hoboken’s shoreline, the Sinatra Park Cafe now being one of the exceptions.
*FBW reached a settlement agreement with the City last October that ensured any future leases of properties acquired with the City’s Open Space Trust Fund (OSTF), which includes the Maritime Park site, are subject to referenda as required by the City’s OSTF ordinance.
Related Links
Proposals to monetize and privatize portions of Maritime Park run counter to the goal of a truly public waterfront
Can the City of Hoboken afford the $74.5 million price tag to build Maritime Park?
The urban design principles that make for successful waterfronts
The Hudson River waterfront and the planning process: public or private?
Plan for the Hoboken Waterfront
Public vs. Private