It was the place where we took dates as teenagers. The place we drove to when we first got our driver's license to catch a movie. Amboy Cinemas.

It opened in 1979 when I was still a kid. It's the place we saw "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Beverly Hills Cop" and "Die Hard." It was the place to see a movie in the '80s. Remember all the arcade games in the lobby back when that was a big thing? Remember the huge snack bar?

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It reigned for a quarter century in Sayreville at Routes 9 and 35 as an entertainment hub for much of Middlesex County. It closed down in 2005 when a routine inspection discovered a problem with the main floor. In short, it was caving in. The whole project sat in a marshy area.

It has stood abandoned ever since. The vacant structure slowly fell into disrepair and it became one of the places New Jersey's so-called urban explorers seek out. Here's one example.

It's not even recognizable to me with all the decay and I was in this theater many times.

So what can be done with this mess? There's a plan. At least the very beginning of a plan.

After 17 years sitting empty and rotting, something may be done. The township approved an ordinance establishing a redevelopment plan for the nearly 20 acre site. It could become anything from a hotel to office space, another recreational use or some type of commercial retail space to any number of other things.

It’s a long road.

There’s groundwater contamination that may need to be dealt with and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to get through. Also, FEMA mapping shows much of the property is in a flood zone so there would need to be a wetlands investigation as part of any redevelopment.

Local officials believe it can all be worth it.

“This is the entrance, the gateway of our town,” said Sayreville Mayor Victoria Kilpatrick at the council meeting last month. “This is what you come over the bridge and you see every single day.”

Funny. When I pass it I just still see my old Mercury Montego parked in the lot.

Demolition has begun at the Amboy Cinemas. See more recent photos here.

WARNING: Under no circumstances should you enter this property. By doing so you risk bodily harm and/or prosecution for trespassing on private property.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

You can now listen to Deminski & Doyle — On Demand! Hear New Jersey’s favorite afternoon radio show any day of the week. Download the Deminski & Doyle show wherever you get podcasts, on our free app, or listen right now.

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NJ-Based BNE Group Seeking 15-Year Pilot & Tax Breaks For Proposal To Build 300-Unit Luxury Apartment Complex

By Tina Traster

A developer that is planning to build a 300-unit luxury apartment complex on the former Letchworth Village complex in the Town of Haverstraw says it needs tax breaks and other financial incentives to make its project viable.

The Haverstraw Group, LLC, an affiliate of New Jersey-based BNE Real Estate is scheduled to come before the Rockland County Industrial Development Agency on Thursday to seek a green light for a PILOT (payment in lieu of tax) program and other perks for its proposed housing plan at 2 Ridge Road in Thiells. The 23-acre parcel sits on a vacant portion of the former Letchworth Village.

The developer, who originally proposed 250 units last year, had agreed to buy the town-owned land for $12 million. The application submitted to the IDA says BNE is planning on constructing 300 units with a purchase price for the land of $14.4 million. The housing project does not include any “affordable” units. Estimated rents for two-bedroom apartments, according to the developer, will be $3500-$4000 per month.

Last year, the Town of Haverstraw changed its 2006 Urban Renewal Plan and added BNE Acquisitions, LLC of Livingston, NJ as a “qualified and eligible sponsor” which gave the Town the authority to enter into a “conditional contract” with BNE to purchase a portion of the Letchworth property for redevelopment.

For its luxury housing project to be economically feasible, the developer is seeking mortgage and sales tax relief, as well as a PILOT (payment in lieu of tax) program.

Developers first go to the IDA to greenlight a project but final approvals for tax breaks rest with town and school taxing authorities. After that, a public hearing will be held at the Town of Haverstraw, town hall.

If the incentives are granted by the local town and school district, the proposed luxury complex would pay nominal taxes for the first three years on vacant land, $385,000 in taxes beginning in years four to five under the PILOT; then increase to $770,000 per year in years six to seven and rise to $1.15 million for years eight to 15.

In comparison, The Henry in Pomona, a 169-unit complex of one and two-bedroom units paid about $1.46 million dollars in taxes to the school district, town and county last year. Mountainside Apartments, a 225-unit garden apartment complex in Pomona paid about $1.05 million in taxes. Neither development has a PILOT program. It is widely believed in the real estate field that it is unusual for “luxury” housing developments to receive such incentives.

The developer is proposing 505,000 square-feet of buildings at an estimated construction cost of $84 million. Soft costs and infrastructure work will add another $50 million, according to its application.

BNE plans to finance $90 million. The developer is asking for relief from mortgage recording tax in the amount of $942,000 and relief from sales tax in the amount of $502,000.

Specifically, the developer is asking to pay $75,000 annually in real estate taxes for the first three years, saying the land should be assessed as “vacant.” For the balance of the PILOT (years 4 through15), a “Base Rate” figure of $3,840 per unit would be used to calculate the payments. For years 4 through 5, the payment would equal 1/3 of the base rate multiplied by the number of approved units. For years 6 through 7, the payment would equal 2/3rd of the base rate multiplied by the number of approved units. For the balance of the term, the payment would equal 100% of the Base Rate multiplied by the number of approved units and would have to be paid whether the project gets built or not. At the end of 15 years, the property would be reassessed and taxed based on that assessment.

To facilitate the project, the zoning on the parcel had to be changed. The original zoning was R-120 (Rural Residential) that only allowed single family homes on 3-acre lots. The new zoning, LA-17 allows Luxury Apartment Multi-Family Residences, up to 17 units per acre, as a matter of right. There is no requirement for any affordable units. The only mandate requires the developer to provide on-site recreation in the form of at least one of the following: a clubhouse, pool, walking trail, playground, dog park, gym, tennis court, business lounge or bicycle room.

BNE Real Estate Group is a national, family-owned company with more than 60 years of experience in the development, investment, ownership, and management of high-quality and vastly diversified real estate assets.

BNE is the developer and operator of the Club and the developer of the Club West at 1000 Murray Court in Pearl River, an active adult rental community for residents aged 55 and older with rentals from $2800 to more than $5,000 per month.

Most of BNE’s development projects are in New Jersey.

(Featured Image: BNE Project in South Amboy, NJ)

SOUTH AMBOY, NJ — New ferry service from South Amboy to Midtown and Lower Manhattan is scheduled to begin Oct. 30.

This was confirmed Tuesday by South Amboy Mayor Fred Henry. Service leaves from the ferry dock at 100 Radford Ferry Road. There is a parking lot right next to the ferry dock, and parking is free. NY Waterway provides free shuttles from the South Amboy train station to get people to the ferry; they also provided free shuttles once the ferry docks in Midtown.

"It's tremendous news; it's really been a long time coming," said Henry. "NY Waterway will provide buses to pick up people in the area around South Amboy. I've been getting calls from people in Perth Amboy, Sayreville and South River asking when the service will begin and how they can take it."

Ferries will go to both Downtown (Brookfield Place) and Midtown (West 39th Street). Right now, service will not run on weekends; it will be weekdays, Monday-Friday only. Service will run during the morning and evening commute hours, according to NY Waterway.

Starting Oct. 30, the first ferry leaves at 5:45 a.m., and then every hour: 6:45 a.m., 7:45 a.m. and 8:45 a.m. Here is the South Amboy-NYC schedule: https://www.nywaterway.com/Sou...

Fares are one-way adult: $18, one-way senior: $17, 10-trip: $165, 40-trip: $600 and monthly $588. For comparison, a 40-trip ticket from Belford to NYC by Seastreak is $720.

NY Waterway told South Amboy they wanted to get the service up and running very soon this fall, said the mayor.

The location from where the ferries will leave from is 50 yards from where South Amboy is planning to build a permanent ferry terminal. However, construction on the ferry terminal has not started yet. Regardless, NY Waterway is eager to begin the service, he said.

"They lost their contact in Highlands, and once they lost that they really wanted to push this a little bit more," he said. (He's referring to this: In July 2022, the Monmouth Board of Commissioners voted to give the Belford ferry service contract to Seastreak, taking away a contract that had been held by NY Waterway for the past 20+ years, since the ferry service first started in 1999. NY Waterway sued Monmouth County, but was ultimately unable to hold onto the contract.)

According to Henry, NY Waterway is eager to keep a foothold in Monmouth County, and they will do so via South Amboy.

"We've been sitting on a letter of intent from NY Waterway to run this service for the past 12 years, so they've always been interested in this site," he said. "I think there is demand for this, otherwise NY Waterway wouldn't be doing it. They are a big organization and they know what they are doing. They checked out the dynamics of the community here; they think there is demand. They told us they want to launch this October, so in the past few months we did a sort of public-private partnership with them: Buying lighting, generators, parking signs to get this thing started. It's ready to go."

SeaStreak used to run a ferry from South Amboy after 9/11, but they discontinued it after Superstorm Sandy caused damage to the South Amboy waterfront.

Here is an ad NY Waterway just released in the past week announcing the South Amboy-New York City ferry service:

Ground Broken For South Amboy Ferry Service Parking Lot, Bulkheads (May 2022)

Station Bay Luxury Apartments Now Renting By South Amboy Proposed Ferry Site (March 2022)

During my 31-plus years at Railway Age, I logged thousands of miles (and hours) on NJ Transit’s North Jersey Coast Line, commuting to Penn Station New York and then hopping on the NYCT subway to get to the office. Working from home for the past four years, my long-commute days are gradually fading away. Nevertheless, I’m always happy to use NJT if I need to venture up north from my home in Red Bank, N.J. Sept. 30 was just such an opportunity, because the train back to the Jersey Shore was NJT’s 40th Anniversary Express, a special run co-sponsored by the URHS (United Railway Historical Society) that marked establishment, in 1983, of NJTRO (New Jersey Transit Rail Operations).

One trip highlight was a symbolic recreation of the power swap that occurred at South Amboy on the North Jersey Coast Line from 1938, when the Pennsylvania Railroad extended electrification from its New York-Washington D.C. main line (today’s Northeast Corridor) there. GGI electrics and steam locomotives performed the ritual until 1957, when the PRR retired the last of its steam fleet for diesels. Penn Central, then Conrail, then NJT continued the practice until 1988 (the famous GG1s were retired in 1983), when electrification to Long Branch was completed.

If a picture says 1,000 words, here are several thousand. Enjoy!

NJT the following day held an equipment display in Hoboken Terminal. Contributing Editor David Peter Alan reports:

While all the fanfare of NJT Rail’s 40^th Anniversary Express took place with the run of the special on Sept. 30, a low-key event the following day gave many others an opportunity to look at some of its equipment and other pieces associated with New Jersey’s railroad and its heritage.

An unusually heavily patronized train that left Montclair at 9:00 arrived on Track 13 at Hoboken Terminal at 9:40 with its load of visitors; many of whom came from a train on the Morris & Essex Line that connected with it at Broad Street Station in Newark. Many were decked out in “Conrail Blue” T-shirts and other railfan attire. They had their cameras ready to photograph equipment that recalled the former Golden Age of rail travel, as well as more-recent railroad history in the Garden State.

The historic cars, locomotives and motor units stood on display at the 1907-vintage terminal, near the Hudson River and the entrance to the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail line. Everything that gave Saturday’s special its distinctive appearance was on view. The two ALP46A ”motors“ that pulled the train from New York Penn Station to South Amboy were there: 4636 in the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Tuscan Red livery with gold pinstripes, and 4640 in “NJ TRANSIT Retro Scheme” as the agency described it, with the “disco stripe” chevron historically associated with the agency, and NJTRO’s 40^th anniversary logo.

The private cars in PRR and New York Central livery that formed part of the 40^th Anniversary Express consist were also there: PRR 120, a business car built in Altoona in 1928 and now owned by the Juniata Terminal Co., Warrior Ridge (originally a Southern Pacific car, also owned by Juniata Terminal Co.), New York Central Tavern-Lounge 43, and the Hickory Creek, a 1948-vintage round-end observation car that once brought up the markers of that railroad’s famous Twentieth Century Limited.

Also on display was Juniata Terminal Co.’s 1952-vintage EMD E8A locomotive 5711, the sort of unit that pulled trains on the North Jersey Coast Line (NJCL) south of South Amboy, where the electrification ended at the time. A replica of a stone eagle from the original New York Penn Station stood next to it.

After the 40^th Anniversary Express reached South Amboy, a change from electric to diesel power was performed to commemorate the ritual that had been a standard practice until 1988. NJT’s two F40PH-2CAT units, 4119 and 4120, took over. They are the last two still on the NJT roster of the original order of 17, which was also the first such order purchased by the agency in 1981. They are now relegated to work train duty.

Two GP40PH-2 locomotives of the class that pulled trains on the New York & Long Branch, the predecessor to today’s NJCL, the route of the special train, were also on view. No. 4109 was repainted in its original livery from 1968, when it was built and delivered to the Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ). Today it is often seen on lines of Lackawanna and Erie Railroad heritage, located north of their original territory. Another unit from that class, 4101, was recently repainted in the “Bluebird” livery of the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT), which ran the trains in cooperation with Conrail in the years before NJTRO was established.

The other unit on display was the rarest of all, the only one of its type that still exists. It was 3372, a GE U34CH built for the Erie-Lackawanna in 1971 to run on lines going to and from Hoboken. It visited its old home for the first time in 30 years on Oct. 1. Railfans called them “U-boats,” and they ushered in the era of air-conditioned cars and push-pull operation in New Jersey. No. 3372 was recently restored by the United Railway Historical Society, co-sponsor of the weekend’s events, along with NJ Transit.

In addition to the numerous railfans and others who came out to see some interesting railroad equipment, NJ Transit employees from Rail Operations and elsewhere were on hand to greet visitors, give out souvenirs and try to recruit some new employees, which the agency needs. The railfans and tourists seemed to have a good time, seeing some unusual equipment and touring the interiors of cars that ran on the great trains from 75 or more years ago. It also gave everybody who is old enough an opportunity to remember the early days of NJ Transit and the struggle to get the agency and its railroad started and keep them going, especially back in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Of course, seeing a stationary railcar as a tourist is no substitute for riding in it, and seeing a locomotive is not the same as riding behind it, but it appeared that most of the folks who came to Hoboken enjoyed looking at something they don’t normally see on the railroad.

It was also a way to join in the celebration of 40 years of NJT Rail Operations that was available to them. According to NJT CEO Kevin S. Corbett, the 40^th Anniversary Express sold out within eight minutes of the time that tickets were offered for sale.

I occasionally rode the trains on the NJCL when power was changed at South Amboy. Most of the other passengers did not like the six or seven minutes of standing time required for the operation, but I usually got off the train and ran to the (sadly now-defunct) Daylight Bakery. If there wasn’t a long line, it was enough time to buy a couple of treats and enjoy them as we sped southward toward the Jersey Shore. Other passengers, on the evening trip, scampered off the train to a trackside tavern that had beers lined up on the bar in “grab and go” style. Throw down a dollar, grab your beer, and run back to the train!

A new ferry terminal is coming to South Amboy. The city has been talking about installing one since the 1980s. It is expected to start running in 2025.

However, a temporary dock has been installed and riders will be able to travel to midtown and downtown Manhattan starting on Oct. 30, 2023.

The dock is located near the terminal site on Radford Ferry Road, just off Main Street and North Broadway Street. This means more traffic for businesses in that area.

Efren Cancro, owner of Java Dave's Coffee on Broadway says, "I think it's going to help us because there's so many people going into the city and this is the town before they get to the ferry. So I think it's going to bring us quite a few more customers."

Some say the small area is already dealing with a lot of traffic. Sara Grabowski, owner of Broadway Diner, told News 12, "I think the ferry is going to benefit South Amboy itself, but I don't think it’s going to benefit Broadway. With the lack of parking we have on Broadway, it’s already a challenge for people because the people who live here already park on the streets. People who take the train already park here, so we lose a lot of parking."

The site is expected to offer free parking. South Amboy Mayor Fred Henry says traffic will be limited, thanks to the New York Waterway shuttle system.

"They will go around and pick people up and bring them down here and if there's any other traffic it probably won't really be coming into South Amboy. It'll be coming from the main roads that lead into South Amboy and come right down here," Henry says.

Building the permanent terminal is a $30 million project that will take about 18 months to complete. Meantime, the temporary docking station will be available offering free transfers to Weehawken, Hoboken and Jersey City.

NY Waterway President & CEO Armand Pohand said, "As ferries have done all along the Hudson River, the existence of that ferry site there will in turn be an engine for the development of all of that area around the ferry terminal. There is some houses that have already been built there. I'm sure a lot more will get built as a result of having that ferry connection."

More information about the ferry project can be found on NY Waterway’s website.