Hoboken, N.J. moves to void unsigned $8.29M Sinatra Drive contract

HUDSON TV EXCLUSIVE

HOBOKEN, N.J. — Thirteen months after awarding an $8.29 million contract to rebuild Frank Sinatra Drive, the City of Hoboken is moving to void the deal because the contractor never signed it — even as the same company continued milling and paving other Hoboken streets on the exact day City Hall sent its final default ultimatum, public records reviewed by Hudson TV show.

Resolution T4 (File No. 26-826) on the Hoboken City Council’s Oct. 21, 2026 agenda rescinds Resolution No. 25-718, adopted Sept. 17, 2025, which awarded the Frank Sinatra Drive Complete Streets Redesign Phase 2 Project (Bid No. 25-06) to Irvington-based Your Way Construction.

Under New Jersey’s Local Public Contracts Law, N.J.S.A. 40A:11-24(b), and the project’s bid specifications, a winning bidder must execute the formal contract and submit performance bonds, insurance certificates and affirmative action paperwork within 21 days of the award, unless both sides mutually agree to extend the deadline. Instead, the resolution states, Your Way Construction never returned the signed contract or performance and payment bonds.

A 13-month gap and an undetermined delay cost

Hoboken opened public bids for the Sinatra Drive Phase 2 project on May 22, 2025, and the City Council awarded the contract to Your Way Construction four months later, on Sept. 17, 2025. The project covers milling and repaving Frank Sinatra Drive, building a concrete island separating vehicles from a waterfront bicycle path, installing raised crosswalks and ADA curb ramps, and adding landscaping and striping.

The rescission resolution on the Oct. 21, 2026 council agenda states that despite “repeated requests from the City of Hoboken demanding they facilitate execution of the contract,” the contractor never signed. The earliest specific communication cited in the resolution is an email dated Sept. 22, 2026 — more than a year after the award — seeking an update on the unsigned contract and required performance and payment bonds, “to which the City received no response.”

On Oct. 6, 2026, the city sent a final notice warning that unless Your Way executed the contract by Oct. 9, 2026, the award would be rescinded. The firm remained non-responsive as of Oct. 16, 2026, leading the city to declare that Your Way “has abandoned the bid award.”

In a written statement emailed to Hudson TV on Oct. 21, Hoboken spokesperson Marci Rubin said the yearlong gap followed federal grant procedures.

“Following the Sept. 17, 2025 contract award, the City was required to complete the federal aid process before proceeding,” Rubin wrote. “After NJDOT authorization, the City sent the contract to Your Way Construction. However, the contractor failed to provide required contract documents by the deadline. The City, is therefore moving to rescind the award, forfeit the contractor’s bid security of up to $20,000, and rebid the project. At this time, the City has not determined the costs associated with any delay and has not received any indication of risk to grant funding for the project.”

The city’s response did not specify the date the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) authorized the contract, when the city first transmitted the agreement to Your Way Construction, or whether the 21-day statutory signing window under N.J.S.A. 40A:11-24 was ever extended in writing. As of Monday morning, Oct. 26, Hoboken’s legislative portal listed Resolution 26-826 on the Oct. 21 meeting page without a posted roll-call vote tally.

$20,000 bond cap vs. a $400,370 gap to the next bidder

Resolution T4 directs the city’s purchasing agent to declare Your Way Construction’s bid bond forfeited as “liquidated damages to offset the administrative and financial loss resulting from the default.” Under N.J.S.A. 40A:11-21 and the project specifications, however, that bid bond is set at 10% of the bid, “not in excess of $20,000.00” — less than one-quarter of 1% of the $8.29 million contract.

According to the original Sept. 17, 2025 award resolution (Resolution 25-718), six companies submitted bids on May 22, 2025:

*Resolution 25-718 (Sept. 17, 2025) states the bid and award as $8,287,156.69; Resolution T4 / 26-826 (Oct. 21, 2026) recites it as $8,287,156.09, and refers to the firm as “Your Way Construction, Inc.” in its title and “Your Way Construction, LLC” in its operative clauses.

Rather than turning to the second bidder more than 16 months after bids were opened, the city’s Oct. 21 agenda summary (Packet Pg. 16) notes that “outside counsel advised the City to rebid the project, and NJDOT concurred.”

The project is backed by federal and state funding — listed in city bid records as New Jersey Infrastructure Bank (I-Bank) Project No. TB0905-001, Federal Project No. 1055301 and State Job No. 6305318 — as well as capital bond ordinance B-493. On Jan. 8, 2025, the City Council adopted Resolution 25-78 to enter a federal-aid agreement with NJDOT for a $1.8 million Congressionally Directed Spending award for the Sinatra Drive redesign, and on Sept. 17, 2025 — the same night it awarded the construction contract to Your Way — the council adopted Resolution 25-704 inserting that $1.8 million U.S. Department of Transportation grant into the CY2025 municipal budget, alongside a $1,204,400.00 contract to Colliers Engineering & Design (Resolution 25-719) to oversee and inspect the construction.

Same contractor kept working Hoboken streets — and got two extensions

While the $8.29 million Sinatra Drive contract remained unsigned, Your Way Construction continued working for the City of Hoboken on another major road contract.

On April 16, 2025, the City Council adopted Resolution 25-350 awarding Your Way Construction, Inc. a $2,711,706.55 contract (Bid No. 25-02, also funded by bond ordinance B-493) for the WIU Phase 2 Complete Streets Roadway Improvement Project, covering milling, paving and curb bump-outs across roughly 12 blocks and four intersections.

Council records trace how that project unfolded alongside the unsigned Sinatra Drive award:

• Oct. 8, 2025 (Resolution 25-765): Exactly 21 days after awarding Your Way the Sinatra Drive contract, the council granted Your Way a 145-day time extension on the WIU Phase 2 contract, pushing its completion date to May 29, 2026.
• June 3, 2026 (Resolutions 26-488 and 26-489): The council approved a second no-cost time extension change order for Your Way on WIU Phase 2 through June 30, 2026. In the very next resolution on the agenda (26-489), the council approved an extra $51,500 for project engineer ENGenuity Infrastructure — raising its inspection contract by 15%, from $349,625 to $401,125 — specifically because the construction timeline had been extended.
• Aug. 12, 2026 bills list: The city approved a $269,592.71 payment to Your Way Construction under Purchase Order 25-01416 for “WIU PHASE 2 ROADS PAY APP #12.”
• Oct. 5–6, 2026 street paving: More than three months after the June 30 extended completion date, Hoboken’s official Construction Updates page listed Your Way Construction closing First Street between Jefferson and Adams streets from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 5 and Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026 to pave the Jefferson and First Street intersection — the exact day City Hall sent its Oct. 6 ultimatum threatening to rescind the Sinatra Drive award.

Meanwhile, Hoboken is scheduled to open bids at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026 on a separate waterfront paving job — Bid No. 26-08, the South Sinatra Drive Resurfacing and Intersection Improvements project between First and Fourth streets. Like the voided Phase 2 contract, the city’s Bid 26-08 notice requires a bid bond of 10% of the bid, “not to exceed $20,000.00.”

What it means for Hoboken taxpayers

Both the $8.29 million Sinatra Drive Phase 2 award and the $2.71 million WIU Phase 2 contract draw on capital bond ordinance B-493 alongside federal and state transportation aid. When capital projects face rebids, construction inflation or extended engineering inspection fees, local debt service and municipal budget pressures can grow. Hoboken homeowners who want to check whether their property is over-assessed or see how local tax levy changes affect their bill can run a free check with GardenState.ai’s Property Tax Appeal check and estimate future bill impacts with the Tax Shock calculator.

What’s next: Oct. 28 OPRA deadline

Hudson TV filed Open Public Records Act (OPRA) requests with the City of Hoboken on Oct. 17 and Oct. 19, 2026 seeking the city’s correspondence with Your Way Construction about the Bid 25-06 contract since the Sept. 17, 2025 award, the notice of award, any written extension of the 21-day signing window under N.J.S.A. 40A:11-24, any bonds or compliance documents the firm submitted, and the project’s federal and state funding agreements.

Under N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(i), the city’s statutory seven-business-day deadline to respond to both OPRA requests is Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026.

Hudson TV asks: Should Hoboken bar contractors that walk away from an awarded bid from working on other city street jobs, or is forfeiting the $20,000 bid bond enough? Reply A: Bar them from city work. Reply B: $20K bond forfeiture is enough.
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