Hoboken's 'Cake Boss' to host reality competition

File photoAccording to the Port Authority, a New York City yellow cab flipped just outside the Holland Tunnel after being hit by another car.

Hoboken "Cake Boss" star Buddy Velastro will host a spin-off reality competition series called "Cake Boss: Next Great Baker," which will premiere Dec. 6 at 9 p.m. on TLC. The series will have 10 bakers competing for a coveted position at Velastro's bakery and a cash prize of $50,000. One of the contestants is a Jersey City resident, Greggy Soriano, who calls himself the "Lady Gaga of cake."

A New York City yellow cab overturned Wednesday night just outside the Holland Tunnel in Jersey City when it was struck by a car driven by a juvenile, a Port Authority spokeswoman said. No one was injured.

People from all walks of life broke bread together, swapped stories and gave thanks yesterday at free Thanksgiving Day dinner events across Hudson County. Those who received the meals were not the only ones uplifted by the events--volunteers felt great, too. "I think it's great to help out, especially with your family, to raise your children to know that they should give back to the community," said Sultana Zaman, 24, a volunteer at Friendship Baptist Church in Bayonne.

Jersey City to get its own slice of Hoboken's Cake Boss

Reena Rose Sibayan/The Jersey JournalBuddy Valastro of the reality TV show, "Cake Boss, " in Hoboken, arrives in Bayonne to deliver the cake to Buon Appetito Restaurant in Bayonne where reality series "Jersey Shore" star Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi is holding a belated Mother's Day celebration for her mother, Helen. Jersey City will soon be getting its own slice of Hoboken's "Cake Boss."

Sometime next year, Buddy Valastro will be expanding his century-old family baking business to the Lackawanna Center, an 8-story industrial building outside the Holland Tunnel on Grove Street in Jersey City.

The "Boss" will take over 30,000 square feet on the ground floor of the Center in order to build a state-of-the-art baking facility and distribution center. A larger headquarters for the bakery's administrative offices is also in the works.

The storefront at Carlo's City Hall Bakery on Washington Street in Hoboken will remain to serve customers and of course, for tapings of the TLC reality series now in its third season.

"It's exciting...," said Jonathan Ratner, Vice President of Emmes Asset Management, LLC which co-owns the Lackawanna Center. "He now has international demand and he's basing his business expansion out of our property."

It is not yet clear when the Valastro's will be moving in, but construction has already begun on their new digs.

Courtesy of Emmes Asset ManagementA rendering of the Shops at Lackawanna, a new retail project that could bring several new businesses to the Lackawanna Center in Jersey City."Cake Boss" is one of several new tenants who could be moving into the Lackawanna Center in the coming years. Emmes Asset Management is in the planning stages of a new project called "the Shops at Lackawanna" which aims to revamp the ground floor of the building with 200,000 square feet of new retail businesses.

The plan will have to go through the Jersey City Planning Commission before construction can begin, which could take some time, according to Ratner.

The building owners have also begun a four-phase capital improvement project. Phase one has already started with infrastructure and elevator improvements. Next up, construction will begin on two new parking lots with room for 300 spaces each. 

Hoboken's Cake Boss receives a warm welcome to his new home: Jersey City

Katie Colaneri/The Jersey Journal"Cake Boss" Buddy Valastro poses with three of his sisters, employees of their family business Carlo's City Hall Bakery in Hoboken. Today, the family was welcomed to the future location of their expanded baking facility at the Lackawanna Center in Jersey City. PHOTO GALLERY The Lackawanna Center, an 8-story industrial building outside the Holland Tunnel, was transformed today into the set of a future "Cake Boss" episode as politicos, bankers, developers and real estate agents gathered to welcome the famed baker to his new home in Jersey City.

Last week, Emmes Asset Management, LLC, the building's co-owner, announced its new tenant who has leased 30,000 square feet of the building's ground floor for a new state-of-the-art baking facility, distribution center and office headquarters.

"We've outgrown the space in Hoboken," said Valastro who arrived at the Lackawanna Center with the TLC camera crew, producers and three of his sisters in tow.

"It's very exciting," said his sister Grace Faugno. "It's a prime space in a prime location... Our Dad would have been so proud."

The famiglia vowed never to close their father's original storefront on Washington Street in Hoboken, Carlo's City Hall Bakery, where the "Boss" currently employs 130 people in 7,000 square feet of space.

Despite the fame, "I still feel like a baker from New Jersey," Valastro told the crowd that gathered inside the building which included Congressman Albio Sires, Jersey City Mayor Jeremiah Healy and several members of the Jersey City Council.

"We think that somebody like Buddy Valastro, we think that he can be a magnet for other tenants to come," said Healy.

Emmes is also in the initial planning stages of a new project called the "Shops at Lackawanna" which would bring several retail businesses to the ground floor of the building.

Today's welcome event will be featured as an episode on "Cake Boss" Season 4 in March.

Hoboken's own Washington Street dubbed one of Top 10 Great U.S. Streets

Amy Sara Clark/The Jersey JournalA long line of tourists and customers outside Carlo's City Hall Bake Shop, home of the "Cake Boss" on Hoboken's Washington Street which has just been named one of the Top 10 Great U.S. streets.

The American Planning Association has dubbed Hoboken's own Washington Street as one of the Top 10 Great Streets in America for both its strong sense of history and its embrace of the future - an exemplar of urban planning.

Once a thriving part of the Mile Square City's booming warehouse and shipping industries, Washington Street has been Hoboken's "main drag" since the 1980s when the city began going residential with the arrival of Young Urban Professionals or "yuppies," who settled into the then-modestly priced historic apartments with an easy commute to Manhattan.

Today, the 15-block street is home to four annual festivals, a wide range of shops and several well-known bars and restaurants including La Isla and The Taco Truck, both recently featured on Food Network television.

And since April 2009, the thoroughfare has seen swarms of tourists who line up down the block just to get a glimpse of the famiglia at Carlo's City Hall Bake Shop, home of TLC's reality series "Cake Boss" starring famed baker Buddy Valastro.

"Although Hoboken has transitioned over the centuries from an industrial region into a bustling residential community, Washington Street has thrived by adapting to the community's evolving needs while preserving its historic character," said Mayor Dawn Zimmer.

While it has welcomed several new business ventures and residents, Washington Street does indeed wear its history with pride, featuring 19th Century lampposts, clocks, brick sidewalks and benches.

The APA also commended Washington Street for its dedication to height restrictions and affordable housing.

Washington Street made the cut along with Bank Street in Wallace, ID; Wydown Blvd. in Clayton, MO; Broadway Street in Red Lodge, MT; 5th Ave. in San Diego, CA; Middle Street in New Bern, NC; Massachusetts Street in Lawrence, KS; Washington Street in Middleburg, VA; Spring Street in Eureka Springs, AR; and Liberty Street in Franklin, PA.

The APA is a non-profit member organization for planners, elected officials and citizens who share ideas and resources in the building and maintaining of communities. Each year, the organization names Top Great Places in America to honor neighborhoods, streets and public places that "represent the gold standard in community planning outcomes," according to its website.