Hackensack approves State Street redevelopment

-Bergen Record, Hackensack - The City Council gave unanimous final approval Tuesday night to a redevelopment plan for a portion of State Street designed to attract high-density residences and businesses.

The plan allows for mixed-use development with up to 230 residential units on several lots between Warren and Bergen streets. The approval is a key step in a larger plan to transform the city’s downtown into a more modern shopping, work and living area, officials said.

“Hopefully, this is the first step and the project that will kick off the overall Main Street development progress, Mayor Mike Melfi said. “We’re hoping for a quick shovel in the ground and to see others join quickly to move this redevelopment forward.”

The plan calls for apartment or condominium buildings of up to six stories with specific amenities, including a fitness center, a common room on each floor, and rooftop perks “with at minimum a fireplace or fire pit.” The plan also allows for ground-floor storefront businesses.

The State Street redevelopment area now is home to a bank and gravel lots. Two vacant single-family homes that had been divided into several apartments and had empty ground-level commercial storefronts were demolished recently by the Building Department for safety reasons, officials said.

The State Street redevelopment plan is part of the Downtown Rehabilitation Plan that the city approved in June. That plan eased zoning, parking and other restrictions in a 39 block-area known as the city's Main Street corridor to encourage mixed-use development.

It’s designed to encourage a contemporary brand of downtown development where people can live, work, shop and find entertainment, all a short distance from mass transit and in a pedestrian-friendly setting.

Councilwoman Karen Sasso, a trustee on the Main Street Business Alliance board, said the State Street plan would be the “spark that will help other development and help realize dramatic change.”

City Manager Stephen Lo Iacono said he has been talking regularly with developers interested in investing in the city’s downtown. With the State Street approval in place, he said, developers and property owners can start submitting plans to the city’s land-use boards. The new residences, he said, would support local businesses and make the area more valuable.

The plan can be found online at mainstreethackensack.com

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