State OKs $50M parking garage to serve Paterson train station
By: Joe Malinconico
Paterson Press
PATERSON - State officials on Wednesday [10/09/2024] signed off on the construction of a new $50 million parking garage across from the city train station, a breakthrough for a project that has been stalled for several years.
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The New Jersey Local Finance Board - which a month ago raised questions about the cost of the new garage - gave its approval in a unanimous vote.
..... The Paterson Parking Authority's team of consultants on Wednesday [10/09/2024] told the finance board that the garage would cost about $40,000 per parking space.
..... The consultants said the original construction bids for the garage in 2022 put the cost at $27,000 per space.
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But the parking authority representatives said those bids came at a time when construction work was slow, and companies were eager for work.
..... The garage work didn't move forward in 2022 because officials needed more time to put together the funding for the job.
..... Mayor Andre Sayegh proclaimed five years ago that the new garage would be built in tand, with a 160-apartment mixed-use transit hub project he said would attract millennials to Paterson.
..... But the status of the housing development is now unclear. Neither Sayegh nor the developer his administration selected for the train state initiative. Anthony Loconte, could be reached for comment about the proposed housing.
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At present, some of the most vibrant businesses near the train station are fast-food restaurants. NJ Transit more than a year ago built fences to prevent people who are hothoused from sleeping beneath the train station's trestle.
..... The parking authority demolished the former garage near the train station in 2022. Officials said the old garage was obsolete and damaged and needed to be knocked down. Since then, the land at the confluence of Ward and Market streets in Paterson's downtown area has sat vacant.
..... Parking officials said they still need to finalize the financing for the garage. Development experts said they don't think constitution will begin until early 2025.