Hoboken Artist's Mural Added To New Building That Will Include Starbucks, Yoga

HOBOKEN, NJ — A new public mural by acclaimed Hoboken artist Ricardo Roig — who has a gallery in town and is the artist-in-residence at the W Hotel — has been unveiled on a new residential building.

"Waterfront Party" adorns the south façade of Willow House, a newly launched rental building at 14th Street and Willow Avenue in Hoboken's north end.

Besides 52 residences, the building at the city's northern border will soon have a Starbucks coffee shop and a yoga studio.

Advance Realty Investors announced the installation last week.

The mural, located at 1404 Willow Ave., measures about 28 feet by 18 feet.

The image depicts a Great Gatsby-inspired cocktail party scene with musicians, diners and guests under string lights, along with views of the Manhattan skyline and Hudson River.

The piece is meant to be "a celebration of Hoboken's hospitality culture and community character," Advance Realty said.

"The mural is really a celebration of the spirit of Hoboken," Roig added. "It's inspired by years of living, working and making art here — the restaurants, the music, the people and the moments that make this city special. I wanted to create something welcoming, something that captures that feeling of arrival, possibility and imagination."

Roig said the commission also connects to his earlier work with Advance Realty across 14th Street at The Harlow.

"This project feels full circle," Roig said. "Ten years ago, I was exhibiting artwork at The Harlow. Now I'm creating a mural across the street as this neighborhood enters a new chapter."

The mural grew out of "Waterfront Party," an original collage Roig created depicting his experiences after moving to Hoboken at age 22.

Roig used a multi-step process for the mural rather than a traditional mural approach, he said. He photographed the mixed-media piece, divided it into 60 grid sections, adhered printed grids to the wall, hand-cut parts of each image with an X-Acto knife and spray-painted the exposed areas before removing the templates.

"Art is alive," Roig said. "The original piece provides the foundation, but the mural develops as I work. It's similar to hearing live music. A performance might speed up, slow down or take on a different feeling from one night to the next."

Willow House is an eight-story building with 52 studio-to-three-bedroom rental residences and about 6,000 square feet of ground-floor retail.

It will be occupied by Starbucks and CorePower Yoga in the future. Read more about that here.

Leasing and occupancy are underway, according to the announcement.

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