River View Observer -photos by Stevemack
On a 30 acre parcel of land in Bayonne NJ that lay dormant for nearly 26 years on Route 440. New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, Bayonne Mayor; Mark Smith, Bayonne City Council President; Vincent LoRe, Bayonne Local Redevelopment Agency Director; Christopher Patella, and respresentatives of the New York Bayonne Cameron Group: Eric Alderman,  and others broke ground for the construction of the Bayonne Crossings Project Shopping Center.
In his speech to the 200 plus attendees Governor Corzine spoke of the Jobs that will be created by the construction of the Mall, emphasing “Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, will be created with the building and opening of this mall“.The Govenor said he was proud to announce that 1200 construction jobs will be filled, and 900 retail jobs will be created.  And Bayonne will receive Urban Enterprise Zone revenues which could equal into the millions. These are funds paid back by the state to the city from the 3.5 % sales tax.
The Govenor also said that Mayor Smith of Bayonne worked very hard in his committment to seeing this project become a reality, Gov. Corzine praised and thanked Mayor Mark Smith and everyone involved in the project .
The mall tenants: Who have signed leases to date are: Walmart and  Lowe’s which are the anchor stores, and  Sonic Drive Inn. Also scheduled as tenants:  Sleepy’s, Friday’s, Longhorn, and NYSC (New York Sport Centers). The first store is expected to open in December of 2010.Â
Anthony Caputo, the port director for Cape Liberty Cruise Port in Bayonne, could not be more proud of the success of the partnership of the city of Bayonne and Royal Caribbean Cruises. In just three short years, Cape Liberty Cruise Port has become one of the busiest cruise ports in the country. The port is ranked second among Northeast and mid-Atlantic coast ports in passenger volume. In 2006 it hosted 71 cruise ship calls, with 321,000 passengers during the 2006 season which ran from May to November. The port was also recognized as one of the top three-rated ports, worldwide, for Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises, which merged in 1997. “When you take into consideration that we only have one berth and we are home-porting passengers which means that the passengers sail from here and return here unlike port–of-calls, our growth is really incredible,†Caputo said. The 2007 season, which begins in May, will commence year-round trips to its destinations.
