FORT LEE, NJ-Tucker Development Corp., Fort Lee Redevelopment Associates and the local governing body have reached an agreement that will allow a mixed-use project to be built on a long-vacant 16-acre site next to the George Washington Bridge. The Hudson Lights project will feature at least 165,000 square feet of ground-level retail space, as many as 475 residences in two high-rise towers and possibly hotel and office buildings on three separate blocks. A new road, Hudson Street, will include at least three restaurants, and a 1.75-acre public park also will house dining.
“It’s a very exciting beginning,” Tucker Development Corp’s CEO and president Richard Tucker tells me. Construction will begin sometime in 2012, with completion 18 months later.
The agreement resolves several disputes among the developers and the borough regarding what was known as Redevelopment Area 5. Tucker acquired the western portion of the site in 2009, and submitted proposals to the borough for the redevelopment of that portion of property, Tucker says.
When borough officials chose Fort Lee Redevelopment Associates, Tucker filed suit in 2010, claiming that Fort Lee Redevelopment’s proposal did not comply with the borough’s plan. FLRA is comprised of SJP Residential Properties, Bergen County attorney James Demetrakis and a private equity fund managed by Palisades Financial. In January, a Superior Court Judge ruled in favor of the borough’s claim that it the planning board and its members could not be included in litigation, though it did not dismiss Tucker’s charges of impropriety.
Under the agreement, Tucker will redevelop the West Parcel and FLRA the East Parcel. FLRA will build and donate to the borough an 11,000-square foot space to accommodate a three-screen cinema, as well as a 2,000-square foot public space that may be used for a historical museum. Tucker declines to comment on the litigation or on the agreement details.
“The reality is that they are two separate projects,” with Tucker building mixed-use and FLRA a resident project, Tucker says. Martha Washington Way separates the two parcels, and the developers will cooperate on common issues, he says. “This accord is the product of an arduous negotiation which delivers substantially the program which the borough proposed, but with even more public space and more amenities, in exchange for a somewhat greater density of development,” said Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, who helped create the agreement, according to the agreement announcement.
“The mayor and other officials were important to making this a win/win,” Tucker says. Tucker Development also is developing two projects in Newark, including the Courtyard by Marriot and ground floor retail adjacent to the Prudential Center.
The borough will amend the Redevelopment Plan for Redevelopment Area 5 to reflect the agreed upon programs proposed by Tucker and FLRA. Neither developer will receive municipal subsides, tax abatements, payments in lieu of taxes or any other form of financial support from the borough.
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