©MACIOCE Century-old historic ferry terminal is in midst of rehabilitation.

Crews are recreating a piece of Hudson River history with new steel piles, painstaking copper restoration and the erection of a new clock tower this month. The second phase of a $115-million redevelopment of the Hoboken Ferry Terminal is like “going back to the future,” says Frank J. Smolar, director of the rehabilitation project for owner New Jersey Transit.

 The two-story, 29,000-sq-ft ferry terminal opened in 1907, handling some 100,000 passengers at its peak. But the proliferation of rail and road routes led to the terminal’s decline and shutdown in 1967. Ferry service resumed in 1989 from a small temporary facility and docking platform.   Now, “river traffic is viable again,” says Smolar. When opened in 2009, the restored facility should handle about 10,000 daily passengers.

Planning for the 64-acre complex’s three-phase redevelopment began in the mid-1990s, with STV Inc. and Beyer Blinder Belle, both New York City, leading a team of firms to develop the master plan. The first phase included an $8-million restoration of the 11,000-sq-ft waiting room.

Hall Construction Co. Inc., Howell, N.J., holds the general contract for the second $55-million project, which includes installing new steel piles,  raising the lower-level concrete floor at least 3 ft, restoring or replacing some 80,000 lb of intricate copper ornamentation, installing lights around the five restored ferry slips and building a replica of a long-gone 220-ft-high clock tower.

Crews began using a 600-ton crane for 30,000-lb picks of new tower sections this month, says Christopher Mezzina, project engineer for construction manager Tishman Construction Corp., New York City. The completed $5-million tower will sport the word “Lackawanna” in block letters  down its front, with LED lights, as a tribute to the bygone railroad.

The ground concourse level adjacent to the slips now is submerged at high tide. Less visible but structurally vital are 180 steel piles of 12-in. diameter driven as deep as 120 ft with little headroom because of the terminal floor above. “The new piles allow us to stabilize the structure and to build a raised platform to mitigate flooding problems that plagued the lower level of the terminal,” says Bruce Jabbonsky, STV project manager.  

©MACIOCE Intricate decorations are restored.

Copper Cladding

From the new platforms, passengers will look out at lower Manhattan and the river through six 70-ft-high restored copper archways adorned with LED lights. Copper restoration is about $15 million, says Lawrence H. Plevy, president of Schtiller & Plevy, Newark, the historical restoration contractor. The reactiveness of copper with ferrous fasteners and a concrete-coal mix for the terminal’s walls caused voids and disintegration. Pieces of wall and copper fell into the river.

“Now we’re using correct concrete, stainless-steel armatures and very little wood,” notes Jabbonsky. Heavy-duty bolts of stainless steel or brass will be used to ensure deterioration doesn’t repeat itself over the next century.

Hundreds of copper panels and ornaments are being restored or replicated one by one in an impromptu “copper shop” located in the empty halls of the Grand Concourse. Design will begin soon on the third phase. It will entail such details as new waiting areas, lighting, signs and support facilities.