Mayor Jose "Joey" Torres has announced plans to build a 7,000 seat arena consisting of 53,500 square feet per level; an office tower of 75,000 gsf and 8 stories; a 7-story hotel with 100 rooms; a 24,500 gsf, 2-story cinema; approximately 29,000 gsf of retail space; and approximately 2,200 parking spaces. The parking spaces will consist of approximately 1,300 above ground and 900 underground. Preliminary costs on the parking component have been estimated at $29 million.
The Paterson Parking Authority owns the land where this development is to take place. It consists of Lots 6, 125, 12E, and 12W. The city, however, retained the development rights to Sites 6 and 12S. These lots total approximately 600 spaces, and represent over 30% of the Authority's total revenue. The Paterson Parking Authority has pledged support for the Center City Development, but has expressed concerns about the underground parking, which the Authority deemed as a costly proposition to build and maintain.

Market Street Garage With New Jersey Transit (NJT):

This project has been on the books for over 8 years, and has undergone dramatic changes since the original concept. As it now stands, NJT is to contribute $3,160,000 towards the construction of an 800-car garage on Community Development-owned property at 2 Market Street. This garage will also include approximately 12,000 square feet of retail space, and will be owned and operated by the Authority, which will lease 125 spaces to NJT for their exclusive use. The Mayor is interested in property on Madison Avenue that is currently owned by NJT, and which he wants to incorporate into this deal. The Authority has offered NJT $960,000 for this property, which will come out of NJT's original contribution.

There are environmental issues with this property that have to be addressed, and might change the offer made by the Authority. The Authority and NJT will meet in October, 2002 to finalize this agreement.

County College Garage:

The Paterson Parking Authority has begun construction with Passaci County Community College. The College has secured a grant from the State of New Jersey for over $5 million to infuse into this project, and the Authority will pay the balance of the construction costs. This garage will include 12,000-15,000 square feet of retail and office space, and will be owned and operated by the Authority, which will lease back 500 parking spaces to the College. The Authority has contacted Wilbur Smith and Associates to perform a feasibility study to determine the actual amount of spaces that need to be built, with the costs of this study to be shared by the College and the Authority. The College currently owns the land where this project is proposed.

Prospect Street Garage:

This project has been recently discussed with a private developer. The concept is for the Authority to construct a garage (with an undetermined number of spaces), in conjunction with retail, office, and residential spaces. The parking, retail, and office components will be owned and operated by the Authority, and the residential components will be owned and operated by the private developer. This parcel of land is currently owned by the Authority, and is being used as a parking lot. Additional meetings have been scheduled to advance discussions regarding this proposed development.

Summary:

It is difficult to put numbers and schedule timeframes for these projects. Some of the projects are already the subject of dialogues involving the Authority and other public-and private-sector joint venture partners. It is clear that all of these possibilities represent major investment possibilities, with a commensurate return in revenues as a result of those investments.

If these project were fully realized, they would result in the creation of an additional 5,000 parking spaces throughout the City of Paterson. The demand for these additional spaces is already evident. Given the current market value of spaces in Paterson, we anticipate that the realization of these capital projects alone aside from any revenue gains achieved through rate increases and reduced operating costs will account for at least a 5% annual increase in revenues.