Bayonne appears ready to grant a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) agreement to the developer of the site of a shuttered movie theater in South Cove Commons.
20-year PILOT
The Bayonne City Council introduced an ordinance at the Nov. 10 council meeting that would enter the city into a PILOT agreement with developer 191 Lefante Way Urban Renewal LLC, or its successor.
At the council caucus meeting on Nov. 4, Law Director Jay Coffey gave some initial details about the agreement: The 20-year PILOT is for the Frank Theatres site, within the Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ), as part of the South Cove Development Project.
This is in line with a recent ordinance adopted by the city council limiting PILOTs to a maximum of 20 years. City Council President Sharon Ashe-Nadrowski said that the city will look at limiting PILOT agreements to 15 years maximum in the future.
This is one of the first PILOTs for a commercial development, which officials say will add new jobs.
A public hearing on the ordinance will be held at the Dec. 16 city council meeting. For more information, visit bayonnenj.org.
Redevelopment plans
The planning board and city council adopted the redevelopment plan for the South Cove Commons plaza in 2017.
The plaza is currently home to Stop & Shop, TJ Maxx, Houlihan’s, Wendy’s, Dunkin’ Donuts, a strip mall with various businesses, and a large parking lot. The movie theater is the only shuttered building in the plaza.
The developer at the time, the Alessi Development Company, indicated plans for a hotel, an 80-unit residential building, and office space. If constructed, the hotel would be Bayonne’s first.
An application by the developer for a specific project on the site has not yet gone before the planning board. The project is still in the early stages.
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