New Hoboken High School Building Will Cost $241M

HOBOKEN, NJ — A proposed new Hoboken High School building that was announced by the Board of Education a week ago Monday will cost as much as $241 million to build, NJ.com said in a story Monday.

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As first reported in Patch last week, the school board expects to bring their plans for the proposed school before the Hoboken Planning Board next month. The funding may come up for a public referendum on Jan. 25. READ MORE: New Hoboken High School To Go To Planning Board Next Month

NJ.com reported Monday that the school will be built at 1000 Jefferson St., the site of the current athletic field used by Hoboken High School. A new athletic field will be constructed on top of that new building. The new building will also contain a rooftop athletic field, an ice rink, and the long-promised city pool.

The current Hoboken High School building on Clinton Street would become the city's new middle school, NJ.com said. And the existing middle school, now held in a 110-year-old former high school in the center of town, would be turned into an elementary school. Read more about the plans in NJ.com here.

Cited Enrollment Trends

The Hoboken Board of Education said in a message to the school community last week that the new building was being floated due to enrollment increases and due to the aging of the district's school buildings — "many of them built before 1910."

The board said that district enrollment has been growing since 2015, reversing a trend in the previous decades.

As of October 2020, the district had 2,667 "regular on roll full-time" students, according to school documents, as well as another 381 full-time special education students, for a total of 3,048 students.

The mile-square town has 53,000 residents, including many young families.

Last week's message to the community read:

Dear families of the Hoboken Public School District,

As has been widely discussed, District enrollment is on the rise. Since 2015, enrollment has grown, while our facilities, many of them built before 1910, have remained static. With enrollment increases and the general age of the District's existing buildings, long range facilities planning has been a top priority. In addition, the District has been focused on integration of the community and service to the community as part of our educational goals.

We are thrilled to present to the community a facilities project, including a new high school, that will meet the needs of our growing population, our academic programs and will provide recreation space that the entire community will be able to enjoy. We are extremely proud that this project reflects our wider goal of bridging our school community to the broader Hoboken community.

Project plans will be presented to the Hoboken Planning Board in early December and community meetings will be open to the public in December as well. The special election will take place on Tuesday, January 25, 2022.

Sincerely,

The Hoboken Board of Education

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