Winterized boats hibernating in the Riverview Medical Center parking lot on East Front Street.
By BRIAN DONOHUE
Over the past two weeks, numerous redbankgreen readers have reached out to us regarding the appearance of half dozen or so shrink-wrapped boats in a Riverview Hospital Parking lot on West Front Street with the question, “What’s going on?”
As we have reported, the hospital received approvals in recent years to demolish an office building and build a 23-space employee parking lot in the space at 103 East Front Street, which is fully taxed. But throughout that process, there was never any mention of boat storage.
So folks were wondering: are doctors driving boats to work now? Is the hospital going into the winter boat storage business? What gives?
Turns out, the shrink-wrapped boats are part of a swap that’s basically the equivalent of neighbors borrowing a cup of sugar from each other.
Here’s the story, according to an email from hospital operator Hackensack Meridian Health. The hospital recently installed new rootop HVAC units on its building. To do this, they needed to bring in a crane to lift the units onto the roof. The crane would need to go in the storage yard of the adjacent Irwin Marine Center.
So the hospital allowed Irwin Marine to temporarily store the boats in the lot at 103 East Front Street while the crane was on the site and until the work is finished.
As for the hospital’s planned work on the site to improve it and create a public access easement, that project appears to be still somewhere out there on the horizon.
redbankgreen editor Brian Donohue may be reached via email at [email protected] or by calling or texting 848-331-8331 or yelling his name loudly as he walks by. Do you value the news coverage provided by redbankgreen? Please become a financial supporter if you haven’t already. Click here to set your own level of monthly or annual contribution.
