[Above: Spoleti’s design at the rear, and Hovnanian’s Views II at the front; the sites zoned for construction are similar in size.]
First posted here in February 2007 and essentially still up to date.
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North Bergen’s zoning masterplan and the pattern of all the other North Bergen riverfront developments point to a maximum on the site north of the Galaxy of around 30 apartments.
The Mirabelle and Hovnanian’s Views II just across River Road are both 24 units, on similar-sized sites.
Spoleti is seeking approval for a design vastly larger than this. In fact, he wants to squeeze NEARLY SIX TIMES that mass into his small space: 140 units, with around 300 car spaces.
That is almost as big a mass as Hovnanian’s entire Views I, which sits on a site across River Road eligible for a footprint maybe five times the size.
The value hit to the Galaxy, in our estimation, could be in the $20 million to $50 million range. All the Galaxy apartments you can see above would be impacted directly.
- Many of those at right would lose their views, and the others would look down onto a jumbo structure instead of the present green space.
- All our other apartments would face new dangers, new environmental problems, new traffic problems, and probably higher insurance costs.
And if THIS happens Tower III could be toast. Quite literally.
[Below: Most apartments at right would lose their views, and the others seen here would look down onto the jumbo structure.]
Working in our favor and against the developer is this: the Spoleti site may be THE WORST site for heavy residential use on the entire Gold Coast.
It is one of only three developments on the west side of River Road, and the other two have distinct advantages.
The Mirabelle has unobstructed views from all its 24 units, and One Hudson Park has the feng-shui design and the shopping, restaurants and theaters right across the street.
So what does the Spoleti site have?
- It has a large, noisy and sometimes stinky sewage plant for a very near neighbor, which by Federal requirement must soon become nearly twice as large. It has almost no good, unobstructed views. It is almost permanently in the dark shadow of the Galaxy. It is hard up against a terrible traffic situation along a highly congested part of River Road, which also frequently floods.
- And it comes with a whole huge raft-full of dangers. Manhattan’s main 36-inch gas pipeline traverses the site. Toxic waste is down there in the soil, and could readily explode into the air and so into the Galaxy. A major sewage line traverses the site. Excavation into the palisades slope could damage or destroy the Summit House parking building, undermine Ferry Road, and affect even the Galaxy parking building. Noise and dust and darkness and the risk of a crane collapsing into the Galaxy would prevail throughout the 24-month construction phase.
What successful developers call a true nightmare. One remarked to us that this looks like a case of tin-ear and some REALLY bad instincts.
In the past 10 months, we’ve posted over 30 substantive probes of what we think is a dangerous, damaging, and very ugly design; and another dozen or so heads-up on the approval process and the developer.
Here is a quick and handy guide to all of our design posts. We hope you find it inspirational, in the fight that starts tonight.
1. The proposed size, especially the height, depth and bulk, vastly exceeds the masterplan
2. The design appears dangerous or overly obtrusive in a large number of respects
3. The design will hurt not only the Galaxy; it will hurt many other parties too
4. The proposal in fact seems to hurt the interests of North Bergen’s own residents
5. The design is likely to be a real dog on a slow and saturated market
These negatives are in addition to the negative sales-points of living (1) in almost permanent shadow, (2) next to repeated traffic snarl-ups, (3) over toxic waste, (4) next to a gas pipeline, and (5) hard up against a large (and getting-larger) sewage plant
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