New Jersey Department of Transportation Commissioner and NJ TRANSIT Board Chairman James Simpson and NJ TRANSIT Executive Director James Weinstein joined local, state and federal officials recently celebrated the completion of a project that returned a portion of Hoboken Terminal to its original design—restoring permanent ferry service to the historic building.
The historic, Beaux-Arts style terminal and its ferry slips were originally built by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad in 1907. Hoboken ferry service was discontinued in 1967 due to declining demand, but was reintroduced in 1989 at a temporary facility at the southern end of the terminal building.
In early 2003, NJ TRANSIT and the Port Authority entered into an agreement to allow for the restoration of the Hoboken Terminal ferry slips and supporting infrastructure, with the goal of returning ferry service to its original location, while protecting and enhancing the historic elements of the terminal.
The $120 million project, funded through a mixture of state, federal and Port Authority funding, was divided into three phases. The first phase, which began in April 2004 and was completed in September 2005, included repairs to the terminal’s substructure and superstructure.
Work on the second phase began in December 2005 and was completed in April 2008, including construction of a 230-foot tall clock tower replica modeled after the original 1907 design by architect Kenneth Murchison. In homage to the original, the clock tower includes four-foot-high copper letters spelling out the word “Lackawanna” and is surmounted by an illuminated clock with four 12-foot diameter faces, one on each side of the tower.
The second phase also included marine construction of five of the original six ferry slips, as well as restoration of the exterior copper facade and lighting on the river side of the terminal, structural repairs, roof repairs and demolition of the finger piers and wooden fenders.
Construction of the ferry boarding area was completed in the third and final phase, along with all remaining work necessary to restore ferry service to the original slips, including work on utilities, lighting, the ticketing area, ferry barges and gangways.
NY Waterway, owned and operated by Port Imperial Ferry Corp and Billybey Ferry Co., will be providing service from the ferry slips. NY Waterway provides the largest privately-owned commuter ferry service in the U.S., carrying 35,000 passenger trips per day – 8 million trips per year, including service between New Jersey and Manhattan.
Hoboken Terminal currently provides travelers multiple transit options including commuter rail, light rail, bus, PATH and ferry service. Nearly 60,000 people use the terminal on a typical weekday. BD+C
Related Stories
Architects | Mar 9, 2023
A. Eugene (Gene) Kohn, Co-Founder of Kohn Pedersen Fox, dies at 92
A. Eugene (Gene) Kohn, FAIA RIBA JIA, Co-founder of international architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox, died today of cancer. He was 92.
Affordable Housing | Mar 8, 2023
7 affordable housing developments built near historic districts, community ties
While some new multifamily developments strive for modernity, others choose to retain historic aesthetics.
Architects | Mar 8, 2023
Is Zoom zapping your zip? Here are two strategies to help creative teams do their best work
Collaborating virtually requires a person to filter out the periphery of their field of vision and focus on the glow of the screen. Zoom fatigue is a well-documented result of our over-reliance on one method of communication to work. We need time for focus work but working in isolation limits creative outcomes and innovations that come from in-person collaboration, write GBBN's Eric Puryear, AIA, and Mandy Woltjer.
Building Team | Mar 8, 2023
Call for Speakers: BD+C’s 2023 Women in Residential + Commercial Construction Conference
The 2023 Women in Residential + Commercial Construction conference event will take place October 25-27 in Nashville, Tenn., and will bring together more than 300 women leaders from all facets of the $1.4 trillion U.S. residential and commercial constructing sector.
Reconstruction & Renovation | Mar 8, 2023
Hoffmann Architects + Engineers receives Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award from New York Landmarks Conservancy
Hoffmann Architects + Engineers, a design firm specializing in the rehabilitation of building exteriors, announces that the historic facade rehabilitation and window replacement at the 69th Regiment Armory has been selected for the Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award, the New York Landmarks Conservancy’s prestigious recognition for outstanding preservation efforts.
Architects | Mar 7, 2023
David Chipperfield named 2023 Pritzker Architecture Prize laureate
Widely regarded as architecture's highest honor, the 2023 Pritzker Architecture Prize has been awarded to UK-based architect David Chipperfield. In honoring Chipperfield with the award, the Pritzker Prize jury cited the architect's "commitment to an architecture of understated but transformative civic presence and the definition—even through private commissions—of the public realm."
Multifamily Housing | Mar 7, 2023
Multifamily housing development in Chicago takes design inspiration from patchwork and quilting
HUB 32, a 65-unit multifamily housing development, will provide affordable housing and community amenities in Chicago’s Garfield Park neighborhood. Brooks + Scarpa’s recently unveiled design takes inspiration from the American tradition of patchwork and quilting.
Industrial Facilities | Mar 6, 2023
The largest planned logistics and business park in North America gets under way in Southern California
The $25 billion World Logistics Center will boost the supply chain capabilities of Southern California and will serve as a distribution center for destinations across the continent.
Healthcare Facilities | Mar 6, 2023
NBBJ kicks off new design podcast with discussion on behavioral health facilities
During the second week of November, the architecture firm NBBJ launched a podcast series called Uplift, that focuses on the transformative power of design. Its first 30-minute episode homed in on designing for behavioral healthcare facilities, a hot topic given the increasing number of new construction and renovation projects in this subsector.
K-12 Schools | Mar 6, 2023
Benefitting kids through human-centric high school design
Ingrid Krueger, AIA, LEED AP, shares why empathetic, well-designed spaces are critical in high schools.