Mayor Ravi S. Bhalla, elected officials, and members of the Hoboken community celebrated the official grand opening of a new multi-purpose gymnasium at 7th and Jackson Streets today. The new, 6,835 square foot gym is now open for recreational basketball and other activities. Thanks to the incorporation of Hoboken’s second City-run gymnasium, Hoboken has been able to increase the amount of children participating in recreation basketball from 694 in 2019 to 832 participants in 2020, a 16% increase. The addition of the gymnasium has also allowed the City to add an additional division for girls in grades 5-8 with three extra teams, and expand the total amount of teams in in grades 3 and 4 from 20 teams to 28 teams.
“I am incredibly thrilled Hoboken now has another state-of-the-art recreation facility with the opening of our newest gymnasium,” said Mayor Bhalla. “We are striving every day to improve our recreation programming for residents of all ages, and the new facility has already resulted in more children participating in basketball leagues than ever before. Taken together with the new resiliency park and open lawn right next door, we are making major quality of life investments in Western Hoboken for our residents. Thank you to the many community partners, and especially Mayor Zimmer and Larry Bijou for helping make this occasion possible.”
“Thank you to Mayor Bhalla and his team for moving this important project to completion,” said former Mayor Dawn Zimmer. “I'm extremely proud of my Administration's role in ensuring that new development projects include significant neighborhood benefits. This gymnasium will provide much needed play space for important community groups like the Jubilee Center as well as for Hobokenites of all ages.”
“It’s incredible that we now have another indoor recreation facility in the City of Hoboken,” said Councilman Mike Russo. This gym provides space for city run programs as well as open gym space for our residents. What’s even more amazing is that it is right here in the 3rd Ward for everyone to enjoy.”
“The public gymnasium and basketball court are much-needed community amenities and we’re excited for the official opening of these world-class facilities,” said Larry Bijou, Managing Partner of Bijou Properties. “As a Hoboken-based company, we take a civic minded approach to every development project. This means working closely with the City and local community to ensure its needs are met. That was certainly the case at the award-winning 7 Seventy House and the end result was this state-of-the-art, 6,835 square-foot gym, as well as the accompanying two-acre resiliency park. We’d like to congratulate Mayor Bhalla, former Mayor Zimmer and the City Council on its opening and thank everyone involved in the project.”
“We are pleased to partner with Bijou Properties in delivering the gymnasium to the wonderful City of Hoboken. Through this development project, we have created a significant number of union labor jobs, partnered with Hoboken to create better infrastructure and added a spectacular public amenity to the neighborhood. Congratulations to all those involved in the community,” added Peter Palandjian, Chairman and CEO of Intercontinental Real Estate Corporation.
The new gymnasium will offer open gym time for adults on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays from 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm. No reservation is necessary, and the gym will be open on a first come, first serve basis. Additional gym time for children will be added in the coming weeks once the final schedule of programming is finalized for the winter. For any requests for the rental of the gym, please email recreation@hobokennj.gov.
In addition to the gymnasium, the community benefits associated with the 7th and Jackson redevelopment project include the playground and lawn that opened to the public in the summer of 2019, underground flood infrastructure to withhold up to 450,000 gallons of rainwater, and a public plaza that is scheduled to open later this year.
