Longtime Hoboken-Area Business Moves To Make Way For Rail Project

HOBOKEN, NJ — Dykes Lumber, the store in Weehawken that backs up to railroad tracks along the Hoboken border, has closed to make way for the construction of the Gateway Tunnel project into New York City, the company confirmed.

The store and its wide lot have been familiar to those traveling on Park Avenue between Hoboken and Weehawken for seven decades.

"Weehawken was our main yard and headquarters location. Dykes Lumber was in Weehawken for over 75 years," President Charles Kreyer told Patch. "The original yard was across the street but we moved into the new building in 1985 in a property swap that allowed for the development of the waterfront."

Kreyer said that before that, Dykes had a yard in Hoboken for many years in the mid 1900s.

Jersey Digs reported that Amtrak bought the 2.4-acre parcel for $60 million as part of the ongoing Gateway Project to upgrade and provide more rail access between North Jersey and Manhattan.

Dykes has relocated to 6001 Tonnelle Ave. in North Bergen, Kreyer said, which is three miles away.

"We used the money from the sale of Weehawken to purchase a large warehouse, and are operating out of it while also renovating the space and building a new state-of-the-art showroom," he said.

He said the main office staff moved out of Weehawken on Jan. 1, and the entire yard was moved by the end of February.

He noted that the new site is located in a UEZ (lower sales tax zone).

"Please take a ride and check out our new location!" he said.

Amtrak notes that the Gateway Program will create four tracks between Newark and New York Penn Station where now there are two.

"The Gateway Program will modernize the most congested 10-mile section of the Northeast Corridor, adding needed resiliency and creating the capacity for a doubling of passenger trains under the Hudson River into New York Penn Station," they say. "This section of track serves approximately 200,000 Amtrak NEC, long distance and state supported service and NJ Transit trips on 450 daily trains."