The Only Total Market Coverage, Award Winning Newspaper in Bayonne
Home Delivery EVERY THURSDAY 201-798-7800
A HUDSON REPORTER NEWSPAPER • STORIES UPDATED CONTINUOUSLY AT WWW.HUDSONREPORTER.COM • A PUBLICATION OF NEWSPAPER MEDIA GROUP
THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2023
Bayonne’s planned 1888 Studios granted site reconfiguration
CarePoint Health and Alaris Health settle all outstanding litigation However, CarePoint is still involved in litigation with RWJBarnabas Health and Hudson Regional Hospital
Certain office buildings were nixed from the motion picture studio plans in lieu of more sound stages
An aerial mock up of the planned major motion picture studio. Renderings by Gensler architectural firm.
By Daniel Israel Staff Writer
T
he Bayonne Planning Board has approved an application by 1888 Studios, LLC to reconfigure their final site plans for the planned major motion picture and television studio. The studio is to be constructed on the former Texaco site at the terminus of Avenue A. At the southernmost tip of Bayonne, the site is surrounded by the Bayonne Bridge to the east, the Caschem West site to the north, and the Kill Van Kull to the west and south. The Planning Board previously approved the initial final major site plans for 1888 Studios back in March. Since then, the plans have gotten rave reviews from industry insiders, and project officials estimate the nearly $1 billion project is an investment in the city that will bring hundreds of millions of dollars to Bayonne, to be supported by a long-term payments-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement and millions in general
aggregation redevelopment bonds. However, at a community meeting on the project, the renderings of the project appeared to have changed from the March planning approval. At the January meeting of the Planning Board, 1888 Studios presented the changes previously seen in those renderings for official approval by the board. The application was presented by attorney Matthew Posada, who again described the ground-up motion picture project as “the largest in North America” of its kind in the sense that studios are normally not constructed with all buildings in once location at the same time. He described how the plans have changed since March as the project moves forward. “This application received site approval back on March 30, 2022 and since that date, we have been working in partnership with the City of Bayonne in order to bring this project to fruition,” Posada said. “As part of that process, there’s some fine see STUDIO page 4
Part of the legal action revolved around Bayonne Medical Center and its ownership and operations. Photo by Daniel Israel.
By Daniel Israel Staff Writer
C
arePoint Health System has reached a settlement agreement with Alaris Health and its owner Avery Eisenreich and the two entities have agreed to settle all outstanding differences. In a press release, CarePoint said the move “will support the nonprofit’s mission of providing high quality, patient-focused health care to Hudson County.” CarePoint officials said the settlement will allow the company to “move forward without further distractions and unnecessary legal costs,” and continue its quest to determine its successor as it has completed its transition from for-profit to non-profit status to the praise of Hudson County officials. “Settling this matter with Alaris Health has been a top priority since I arrived at CarePoint Health,” said President and CEO of CarePoint
Health Achintya Moulick, “and I am proud that we can now put this situation behind us and move forward with our goal of bringing the highest quality health care services to Hudson County, especially to vulnerable populations that need it the most.” “Clearing away these types of distractions supports our mission of making CarePoint Health a national model for providing patient-centric healthcare in a community driven, non-profit setting,” Moulick added. “With the support of our local, county and state officials, there is no limit to the advances in health care delivery that we can bring to Hudson County.” Terms of the settlement agreement involving CarePoint Health and Alaris Health cannot be divulged due to confidentiality agreements between the parties. In 2020, CarePoint sued Alaris in the Delaware Chancery Court over claims that Eisenreich attempted to thwart negotiations to maintain Bayonne Medical Center’s operation as a hospital by discouraging potential buyers. The suit alleged Eisenreich intentionally disrupted the negotiations between CarePoint and an unnamed potential bidder who would have continued to operate Bayonne Medical Center as a hospital. The lawsuit claimed Eisenreich wanted to turn the facility into a nursing home like see AGREEMENT page 7 Classified Directory Business Directory Education Mayor’s Column Obituaries
p. 10 p. 11 p. 6 p. 6 p. 8
Casais elected Bayonne BOE President, Gonzalez elected VP New trustees sworn in amid leadership change up By Daniel Israel Staff Writer
T
he Bayonne Board of Education has elected new leadership. Trustee Jodi Casais was elected Board President and Trustee Hector Gonzalez was elected Board Vice President at the Jan. 4 reorganization meeting. In addition, the trustees that won the November 2022 election were sworn in. That included Gonzalez, as well as three other new trustees Mary Jane Desmond, Miriam Bechay, and Saverio “Sam” Maggio. Gonzalez is a public school teacher in Jersey City, Desmond is a former BOE trustee and former city councilwoman returning to the board, Bechay is a biomedical engineering student at New Jersey Institute of Technology and former local campaign worker, and Maggio is a retired public school teacher, President of the Board of Trustees at the Bayonne Community Day Nursery, and the Bayonne School Employees Credit Union. In a historic move, Bechay becomes the board’s youngest-ever trustee at age 21. Meanwhile, the “Together We Can” ticket has held onto its grip of the board. “I really became interested in politics by working on local campaigns. I was fortunate that former Assemblyman Nicholas Chiarasee BOE page 9