Where is Hoboken Headed?
There is a sea change going on in in Hoboken. Residential rents have skyrocketed and there are almost no three-bedroom units for sale. Empty storefronts abound on Washington Street. Kid-oriented businesses have sprung up; there are easily three times as many gym and class options now as there were three years ago when my second child was a baby.
The family demographics are changing too. Summer is always a time of seismic population shifts since families don’t want to move during the school year. Many of the new arrivals have significantly more money than the departures.
Let the Disneyification of Hoboken commence.
When I was a kid, Times Square was a grungy, scary place. Stores abounded with merchandise hung on the walls all the way up to the ceilings; their big sellers were fake IDs. I saw prostitutes hanging out while riding the van to my Manhattan high school.
20 years later, Times Square is a glittery, shiny new place. There are fans and detractors of the Disneyfication process, but the end result is a place where I regularly take my kids.
Where is Hoboken headed? Whether it continues to be a hotspot for families remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure; it is going to be a much more expensive place than it ever has been.
Check back with me in ten years and I’ll let you know whether the changes have been good or bad.
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