A developer or redeveloper promises Hoboken all sorts of things and in return they can build their building above and beyond what they permitted to “as to rights”. Sometimes our redeveloper agreements even involve a special tax break for the developer and eventually owner of the property.
If these things are negotiated well and enforced: it might not be a problem (I say might not, because I believe that developers are much better negotiators than our city council and zoning/planning boards)-
But more often than not, once the building is underway, already completed or even existing for years: the owner of the property cries poor to get additional concessions from our city.
Some examples:
-Minimum affordable units are never provided for ten years until a court judgment forces the property owner to provide them.
-Tennis courts promised at 15th Street and the water front never get built.
-A movie theater that can only be a movie theater by deed restriction, is switched to become ‘any use’ and is then flipped by Solomon Builders for a 1000% profit. (https://hudsoncountyview.com/op-ed-heres-why-the-loss-of-hobokens-movie-theatre-was-a-universal-failure/)
-A promised and sorely needed supermarket first is cut to half the space and then receives a tax break.
All of these situations help the developer, on all of our backs! The rest of us are the fools who are paying for these advantages given to people who aren’t even Hoboken residents (many of whom donate to my opponents).