Summer is here and so is the opening of one of Hudson County’s newest event venues. The View at Lincoln Park, located at 201 Lincoln Park Drive, is part of a long tradition of entertainment spaces in one of Jersey City’s largest Parks. The View opened in Spring 2023, marking the newest chapter in this unique location’s history. The Hoboken Girl spoke with Jeanne Cretella, President of Landmark Hospitality, the company that owns and operates The View to learn more about what to expect.
About the Property
In February 2021, Jersey City Planning Board approved the design of The View, located at 201 Lincoln Park Drive, near the Communipaw Avenue entrance to the park. The official groundbreaking ceremony was held in May 2021 and work has been underway since. The opening of The View is just around the corner, according to Jeanne Cretella.
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Jeanne Cretella is President of Landmark Hospitality, the company that operates The View at Lincoln Park in partnership with Hudson County. Landmark Hospitality also operates several other restaurants, bars, hotels, and properties, including the Liberty House, Hudson House, and Felina Steak restaurant in Hudson County.
While the venue itself is something special, Jeanne says that the location on its own is an attraction. “The spot was always a monumental event space in Hudson County,” Jeanne said. “As the former location of Casino in the Park, it has a tremendous history in Hudson County. Anyone who has lived in Hudson County over a certain amount of years remembers celebrating something there. Either their own celebration or someone else’s.”
According to Jeanne, “In recent years, the building deteriorated and it really needed to be refurbished. The county is totally committed to the community of Lincoln Park. There is a phenomenal golf course in the park, and the monumental fountain is really reminiscent of something you’d find in Europe. It feels like you’re not in the US.”
Jeanne continued, “When [the county] decided to invest in what had been Casino in the Park, they agreed that it would be best to take it down and start over. We’re thrilled to have partnered with the county. It’s unlike anything that is in the county and we feel really strongly that it will be the most phenomenal space that any county in the state.”
Jeanne said, “It’s super special in its design, we purposefully dedicated to name it The View. Both Liberty House and Hudson House are known for their views. The view in Lincoln Park may not be of the skyline but the view is magical. We really feel confident about that name. That it was the right name. A lot of people thought that we’d keep the previous name, but we wanted the new space to have its own identity.”
The View will be 20,000 square feet when it is completed. The space can fit over 300 people, and has the capacity to host two events simultaneously. The architectural centerpiece of the property is a rooftop deck with a bar on the top floor, and another deck on the second floor, offering incredible views of the park.
Events Director Vivian Bifulco has been with Landmark Hospitality for 13 years and is coming to The View from Liberty House. She said that the third-floor roof deck will have a bar, in addition to the event spaces. “It’s really going to be something,” she said. “Especially once the weather gets better, it will be incredible.”
Neighborhood Impact
Lincoln Park was founded in 1905 and is 273 acres in size. The western border of the park is the Hackensack River, and the park is criss-crossed with walking trails, dotted with tennis courts and basketball courts, and has two soccer fields among other recreation amenities. The park is in the center of a residential neighborhood. Jeanne said that in designing the venue, the team thought carefully about how to minimize disruption in the neighborhood.
“Within the park there are several parking lots, and we have a shuttle service between the venue and those lots,” Jeanne said. “But we’re finding that less and less people are driving to events. Many people use car sharing. People are very conscious about drinking and driving.”
Between the use of car-sharing services and the popularity of hotel shuttles, things have really changed. “The amount of traffic generated by a wedding is substantially less than it was ten years ago,” Jeanne said. “We have a dedicated space for cars to queue up for pickups and dropoffs.” Further, working with event hosts will help to mitigate the congestion that could happen with a lot of cars. “With planning ahead, we generally know how many cars will be parking, how many ride-shares will be used, etc,” Jeanne said.
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Jeanne also said that The View will be a job creator for the community, “With any kind of hospitality event, a lot of hands are needed to execute events,” she said. “And as a local hospitality business, we like to hire from the community,” Jeanne said that over 100 jobs will be created, and they look forward to hiring from Jersey City and Hudson County as a whole.
Photo Credit: Landmark Hospitality
“Our culinary team is totally committed to working with the Hudson County Community College,” she said. “We have a great relationship with the school and really believe in giving opportunities to people who are passionate about the industry.” Jeanne is the Vice Chair of the Hudson County Community College Foundation, which promotes the college and its students as well as developing financial resources. “I feel strongly that hospitality as an industry provides jobs for people who live in the communities in which venues are located,” she said.
