As companies call employees back to the office, workers are responding with surging attendance. But just as this post-pandemic comeback gains momentum, federal funding uncertainty for Amtrak’s Gateway Program threatens to undercut the very infrastructure that makes this recovery — and future growth — possible.
Under court order, the U.S. Department of Transportation restored federal funds tied up since October by President Donald Trump’s administration. The rail project’s stability, though, is far from certain.
Gateway, a $16 billion initiative to modernize 10 miles of the Northeast Corridor rail route from Newark to Manhattan, hangs in the balance. A legal tug of war over the last several weeks threatens the long-term vitality of the Tri-State region’s economic collaboration.
If work halts permanently, as the president has threatened, the consequences will ripple far beyond train schedules or passenger safety. Any interference puts the region’s mixed-use commercial real estate industry in the crosshairs, because many transformational, transit-centric developments are tied to Gateway improvements. Further, the private and public construction markets are interconnected – so potentially, the chopping block awaits not only infrastructure and construction jobs, but also the future homes, offices and hospitality assets that our members develop in the region.
North Jersey homes
Gateway has benefits for both sides of the Hudson River. It will jolt the cleanup and redevelopment of countless underused properties. These investments will stimulate well-positioned commercial real estate projects, creating jobs and generating significant fiscal contributions to local, state and national economies.
In New Jersey, the commercial real estate industry logged 24.7 million square feet in industrial leasing activity, with the fourth quarter of 2025 logging just shy of 5 million square feet. Much of this activity is within the logistics sector, whose workers will benefit greatly from Gateway’s improved service.
Residential permits have surged in recent years, with North Jersey leading in new homes production. Manhattan office leasing increased by more than 25 percent in the fourth quarter, and leasing volume in 2025 hit a six-year high.
Breakdowns and delays can cripple the route from Boston to Washington, D.C.
Financial and technology firms scooped up office space across Manhattan and Brooklyn, with mega deals signaling increased demand in high-quality spaces that lure employees back to the office. The commercial real estate industry rebound was driven largely by private sector job growth, which increased by 2% in New York City, compared to less than 1% across the country.
All of this progress, however, relies on infrastructure that is well past its time — specifically, the Hudson’s North River tunnels, which are more than a century old and sustained significant damage from Hurricane Sandy in 2012. That link, used by Amtrak and NJ Transit, carries around 450 trains daily, moving hundreds of thousands of residents, employees and visitors. It operates far beyond what it was designed to handle, and is the source of breakdowns and delays that can cripple the route from Boston to Washington, D.C.
Transit-oriented development
Gateway was created to address this exact vulnerability. After courts ended Trump’s funding freeze, construction restarted in late February on the tunnels and the Portal North Bridge in the Meadowlands. More than $1 billion of taxpayer money has been invested. To halt work again, or terminate it, would waste taxpayer dollars and delay or doom urgently needed improvements.
The stakes could not be higher. More than 200,000 daily commuters rely on trans-Hudson rail service; they cannot drive or simply Uber into Manhattan. Eventually, Gateway will boost NJ Transit’s direct Manhattan service, relieving potential crowding and providing material benefits to commuters. With this increased service, untold opportunities will open for transit-oriented development at and around North Jersey rail stations.
Unlocking Gateway is about protecting the pandemic recovery and supporting the New Jersey-New York economic ecosystem.
The broader regional labor market generates over $200 billion in earnings annually. The tunnels cannot continue to serve as they do unless they are rehabilitated and two more are built, which is the Gateway plan. To skip the project and instead close the tunnels for repair — one, and then the other — would reduce service by 75%. And more capacity is desperately needed: Rapidly accelerating industries, from technology to life sciences to e-commerce, are delivering new jobs to the region.
Unlocking Gateway is about protecting the pandemic recovery and supporting the New Jersey-New York economic ecosystem. Gateway was 100% on time and on budget until the federal funding delays and the legal battles to restore it. The region cannot afford to gamble its comeback on aging infrastructure. Those in the Tri-State area must call their elected officials and press the importance of seeing Gateway through.
Trump must permanently restore funding, keep construction moving and secure a future that matches our region’s renewed energy. As a developer himself, he knows well that any further delay makes neither dollars nor sense.
