NJ.com reported today intent by the Rockefeller Group to build a 40 story building in the northwest section of Hoboken claiming the group had been working with city officials over the last two years.  Buried within the story was a dissenting opinion contrary to that development view from Mayor Dawn Zimmer.

Review of the two years of “discussions” reveals more from the Rockefeller Group’s thinking, – they did invest two years of discussions with city officials, in addition to the mounds of money buying up property in that area.  The only problem would be it’s past officials in the Mayor Roberts and Mayor Cammarano Administrations.  Discussions came to a sudden halt with ex-Mayor Peter Cammarano’s resignation.

Last August, Councilwoman Beth Mason put forward a comprehensive commercial development covering a large section of the northwest of Hoboken including a minor league ballpark.  Skepticism arose from some members of the community about the prospect for any of that happening with low scale development when large parcels had changed hands in the neighborhood of $40 million.  A rough analysis showed development in scale with most of Hoboken was not financially tenable with those land costs.  Now the Rockefeller Group is showing their hand on the designs they have for Hoboken.

Mayor Dawn Zimmer has a different idea about any planned announcement this fall from the Rockefeller Group on a 40 story building going up as a centerpiece of their plans.

Here’s the full context of the mayor’s remarks originally from a June 24th exchange with Josh Marshall of NJ.com: