After years of fits and starts, federal funding for the Gateway project is finally moving after the passage of the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that was signed into law in November. The package provides $30 billion for Amtrak to make Northeast Corridor improvements and $11 billion in other grants. And a lot of that is thanks to one of Gateway’s biggest advocates: Coscia. Also a partner at Windels Marx Lane & Mittendorf, the Amtrak chairman is vice chair and one of the trustees of the Gateway Development Program Corp.
“For 50 years, the nation has been waiting for the Federal government to provide Amtrak with the resources we need to fully deliver on our mission to serve the American people,” Coscia said when the bill became law in the fall. “The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal fulfills this promise and we are ready to start rebuilding and expanding passenger rail to meet the service demands and sustainable transportation goals of the future. With the signing of this bill today by President Biden, the second great passenger rail revolution is here – and Amtrak and its state and federal partners are ready to lead the way.”
Following its passage, officials announced construction on the $12 billion Hudson River rail tunnel was anticipated to start in 2023. The project stands to create thousands of jobs, in addition to improving travel conditions on the crucial NEC. To kick-off the New Year, the Federal Transit Authority raised the rail tunnel’s priority up to medium-high in January, which could make even more – a combined $23 million – federal dollars available for the project. As one insider put it, “Tony is in a rarefied place right now.”
In May, Coscia was part of a Windels Marx team that represented the borrower and developer – Atlantic City University Housing Associates LLC and ACDEVCO, respectively – with the closing of a $54.550 million bond for Phase 2 of the successful Stockton University Atlantic City Campus.
In August, he was named in The Best Lawyers in America’s 2022 edition. This spring, he’ll receive the Industry Services Award from NAIOP New Jersey at its Commercial Real Estate Awards Gala.
Coscia – who is also chairman of Suez North America Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Suez Environnement SAS and a director of OceanFirst Financial Corp. and OceanFirst Bank – is so highly regarded that amid the pandemic’s first wave, he was named to Gov. Phil Murphy’s Restart and Recovery Commission.
