HUD No. 00-217
Further Information:	For Release
In the Washington, DC area: 202/708-0685	Thursday
Or contact your local HUD office	August 10, 2000

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$9 MILLION HUD AWARD BRINGS JOBS TO JERSEY CITY

WASHINGTON - Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo today announced $8.9 million in funding to the Jersey City to develop a 300-room luxury hotel at a former industrial park, a move expected to create at least 250 new jobs and stimulate more than $47.7 million in additional private and public investment. Most of the jobs will be targeted at low- and moderate-income residents.

The funding will also add a new stop on the recently opened Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Transit System and assist in the environmental cleanup of the former Tidewater Basin industrial site.

Cuomo said that HUD's financial assistance package would come in two forms: a $1.9 grant and a $7 million low-interest loan.

"At HUD, we want to rejuvenate America's neighborhoods so that people who live, work and raise families there will have brighter futures," Cuomo said. "I pledge that HUD will work hand-in-hand with city officials and its partners to make sure that these projects create new businesses, new jobs and new opportunities for the people of Jersey City."

Cuomo made the announcement with Mayor Bret Schundler in a telephone conference call from Washington this afternoon.

"The City is proud to partner with HUD to transform an abandoned and contaminated industrial site into a full-service 300-room hotel that will expand the City's tax base and create more than 250 new jobs for our residents. During the past five years, the City has successfully used HUD's programs to help construct other exciting projects. I want to thank Secretary Cuomo for recognizing our successful track record in encouraging the redevelopment of brownfields," Mayor Schundler said.

Jersey City will receive a $1.9 million Brownfields Economic Development Initiative (BEDI) grant, which are used to revitalize areas designated as "brownfields" by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Brownfields are abandoned industrial sites such as gasoline stations, oil storage facilities, dry cleaning stores, and other businesses that handled polluting substances. Since 1993, the Clinton Administration has taken a series of actions to clean-up and redevelop brownfields and return them to productive use. Included among the actions are:

• Providing seed money to communities for revitalization;
• Removing regulatory barriers to redevelopment; and,
• Providing targeted tax incentives to businesses that purchase and clean-up the sites.
  
  

The city will also receive a $7 million Section 108 loan guarantee. The Section 108 program enables communities to borrow funds at reduced interest rates to promote economic development, expand the housing stock or improve public facilities. The loan is "backed" by a portion of a jurisdiction's annual Community Development Block Grant entitlement.

Jersey City is one of 22 communities across the country to be awarded a BEDI award this year. Some 32 communities competed for $25 million available this year in the program.

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