Bergen County's suburbs embrace a touch of the city

Robert Weiner, co-owner of the Bruce the Bed King mattress and furniture store on Hackensack’s Main Street, last week took his 96-year-old father to see a first in the 60 years since his family opened its store — a 222-unit apartment building rising on State Street, a block from downtown.

That project and two others that will put an additional 700 apartments on Main Street are the result of zoning revisions that Hackensack put in place two years ago and the first signs of a policy shift that could produce the biggest transformation of North Jersey’s downtowns since the arrival of the malls pulled shoppers away from town centers in the 1960s and 1970s.

A growing number of North Jersey municipalities, like Hackensack, believe that adding rental apartments in their downtowns is the key to revitalizing their Main Streets. Not everyone, though, is convinced that downtowns and residential apartments are a perfect fit.

North Jersey, and particularly Bergen County, was an example of suburban prosperity in the latter part of the 20th century, typified by single-family homes and shopping centers along highways. But now North Jersey’s suburbs are responding to a 21st-century sensibility of millennials — those between the ages of 18 and 33 — who want to live in urban environments such as Hoboken or Brooklyn, as well as aging suburbanites who want to downsize without leaving their hometowns.

Demand for rental units near transportation has already prompted some towns, including Ridgewood, above, to alter their downtowns.

Englewood, a city of 27,000, has already added one apartment building to its downtown, and last week its City Council adopted sweeping zoning changes designed to encourage residential development downtown.

Demand for rental apartments, especially near train stations, is driving the change. “People want to live in places where they have that downtown, where they can live close to things that they’re going to eat and things that they’re going to buy, and the market is following,” said Maggie Peters, director of the Bergen County Economic Development Corp. Developers, she said, have known this already “and now municipalities are starting to react.”

That’s reflected in requests for multifamily unit construction. In Bergen County, permits for multifamily units have outpaced single- and two-family permits every year since 2009, according to the state’s Department of Community Affairs.

A study by Rutgers University released this fall documented a population shift toward urban areas and away from less-populated suburban parts of the state.

James Hughes, dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, and co-author of “New Jersey’s Postsuburban Economy,” which includes those findings, said North Jersey’s downtowns in a sense are getting back to their roots by adding residential.

“In the very early downtowns, in the early part of the 20th century, the second and third floor above the retail normally was some kind of residential,” he said “That lost favor after World War II. They were converted to offices or left vacant.”

“Now,” Hughes said, “most planners would have no disagreement that it’s a good thing, because a lot of the retailing that takes place in those downtowns is local population oriented” — restaurants, dry cleaners and stores that draw from residents in the immediate area.

“To keep the retail happy, you grow the buying power by adding residential downtown,” Hughes said.

New Jersey towns such as New Brunswick, Rahway and Morristown have brought new residential units into their downtowns and seen stores and restaurants follow.

“There’s been a big movement toward developing downtowns and people moving back into downtowns, and it’s not something that’s happened just in North Jersey or just recently,” said Francis Reiner, Hackensack’s redevelopment consultant, and a senior urban designer at Hasbrouck Heights architectural firm DMR.

Since the 1970s, most North Jersey municipalities have restricted their downtowns to commercial uses. Now, municipalities as varied as Hackensack, Bergen County’s largest city, with a diverse population of 43,000 and a 39-block downtown that used to be the county’s shopping hub, to Ridgewood, a village of 25,000 with a downtown that strives to maintain a small-town feel, are rethinking their zoning.

Hackensack two years ago eased its zoning rules to encourage residential projects in its downtown, and two more apartment buildings — a 382-unit project and a 327-apartment complex — are expected to break ground soon on Main Street. Additional apartment and mixed-use projects also are likely to be proposed for properties a few blocks away from Main Street, including the former Record offices and plant on River Street and the Costco property, also on River Street, which will become vacant next year.

Demand for rental units near transportation has already prompted some towns, including Ridgewood, above, to alter their downtowns.

Marko Georgiev/staff photographer

Hackensack two years ago eased its zoning rules to encourage residential projects in its downtown.

Other towns' plans

Englewood, a city of 27,000, has already added one apartment building to its downtown, and last week its City Council adopted sweeping zoning changes designed to encourage residential development downtown. “It’s a major strategic plan to continue to be vibrant and take it to the next level,” said Englewood Mayor Frank Huttle III.

Fort Lee, which morphed into a borough of high-rises by changing its zoning in the 1970s, just added 450 apartments in a 47-story glass tower, The Modern, to its downtown.

Proposals for three high-density apartment buildings in downtown Ridgewood that require zoning changes have triggered heated debate in that village.

In Westwood, the former Valley Ford dealership property is being redeveloped into a mixed-use project that will include a small residential component, with 14 apartments above retail stores.

Hawthorne and Little Falls in Passaic County have explored possible “transit village” developments of retail and residential near their train stations.

Back in Hackensack, Main Street apartments over retail stores are seen as a way to revive a dormant downtown. However, demand for modern rental apartments in suburban North Jersey, particularly units near stores, restaurants and transportation, is prompting developers to propose residential projects in thriving downtowns as well.

Changes seen

When the Hackensack Council voted in 2012 to allow residential projects in its downtown, residents didn’t see any immediate changes for a year and a half, until ground was broken this year for the Meridia apartment complex on State Street.

“But,” said Reiner, the city’s redevelopment consultant, “I would tell people everything has changed — you have already changed the arc of what is happening” by changing the zoning. Now, as a result of those changes, Reiner said, “there’s $200 million worth of investment in a downtown that for 30 years probably didn’t have a dollar’s worth of investment, all within 18 months.”

A report this year by the non-profit land-use think tank New Jersey Future called for Bergen and Passaic county municipalities to build “aging-friendly” apartments near downtowns for seniors who want to stay in their hometowns and be able to walk to supermarkets and restaurants.

Reiner said the successful downtowns of the future will be those that have involved the community in the planning and asked, “What is it you want your downtown to be?” What works for Hackensack is going to be different from what works for Ridgewood, or Tenafly, or other municipalities, he said.

Village's vision

Ridgewood is wrestling with the question of what it wants its downtown to become. A proposed amendment to the village’s master plan that would allow multifamily, high-density housing projects downtown have been under consideration for two years, with developers seeking to construct a 106-unit apartment building on South Broad Street, a 52-unit structure on East Ridgewood Avenue, and a 52-unit building on Chestnut Street. A public hearing on the amendment is scheduled for Monday night.

Ridgewood’s downtown, which during the worst years of the recession had dozens of vacant stores, is one of the most successful in North Jersey. The occupancy rate for storefronts along Ridgewood Avenue, the downtown’s main thoroughfare, is over 90 percent, according to the Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce, and empty stores tend to be re-leased quickly. A Roots steakhouse recently opened there, and a landmark bank building is soon to be converted into an upscale restaurant.

Online women’s clothing retailers Gypsy Warrior and Shopettes picked the village’s downtown to open their first brick-and-mortar stores.

“It’s the best town in Bergen County for shopping,” said Shopettes co-owner Marilyn Temiz, explaining why she and partner Tanya Bas chose Ridgewood’s Chestnut Street for their clothing store. “We both worked in retail in Manhattan and we think this is the best city in New Jersey.”

Parking problem

The downtown’s biggest problem, said Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Joan Groome, “is the same issue it’s been since 1927 — parking.”

Concerns about parking and traffic congestion are part of the reason why a group of residents formed Citizens for a Better Ridgewood to question the wisdom of bringing large residential projects to the downtown.

“We’re not anti-apartments,” said Amy Bourque, president of Citizens for a Better Ridgewood. The group believes the village and the planning board should carefully weigh whether a 106-unit and two 52-apartment projects are right for the downtown and the village as a whole.

“Downtowns that need revitalization, that need to bring people in, that are starving for an answer, this is a great thing,” Bourque said. “But in towns that are pretty vital, like Ridgewood — we’re in a logjam on any given Friday or Saturday night. I don’t know if this is necessarily what we need.”

“We missed the whole part of the discussion where the community got to sit in and be part of it,” Bourque said. “We’re a little wary of a vision that doesn’t really include a lot of community input.”

Bruce Meisel, who is developing the former Valley Ford car dealership site in Westwood as a mixed-use project with 14 apartments above retail stores, said residential projects should fit the character of the downtown.

Meisel, who owns 20 properties in Westwood and is one of the leading downtown landlords, said he doesn’t believe a high-density apartment building is right for Westwood. “Just like Westwood’s stores are boutiques, the residential developments in Westwood are boutique in nature,” said Meisel.

Residential projects are popular with developers, he said, because they’re “the easiest to rent and you know there’s a market’’ for them. They also are the easiest to get financing for, he said, “so a lot of times a residential development is your path of least resistance if you’re a developer.”

Build it; they'll come

Jerome Lombardo, chairman of the downtown Hackensack property owners group the Upper Main Alliance and chief executive officer of real estate firm CJ Lombardo Co., is eager to see the first residential and retail projects open on Main Street.

“We think Hackensack is a little bit better location than Hoboken — one of the best in New Jersey,” because it is surrounded by highways with access to mass transit, he said.

The alliance brought in consultants who advised it that if Hackensack changed its zoning, development would come.

Lombardo expects the downtown will have more than a thousand apartment units within five years. “As many units as they build here, people will occupy them, and then you’ll see the Starbucks of the world and everybody else is going to want to be here,” he said.

Robert Weiner of Bruce the Bed King is one Hackensack merchant who is glad he stayed in downtown long enough to see the arrival of the first downtown residential apartments.

“It’s wonderful for us,” he said. “New residents will need beds.”

Four downtowns at various stages of residential development

Hackensack — This city's Main Street used to be the downtown of all Bergen County, and 60 years ago it was a two-way street lined with department stores and movie theaters. Now it's a one-way thoroughfare with small stores and restaurants that reflect the ethnic diversity of the city of 43,000. The downtown has struggled over the past two decades in its efforts to draw shoppers from outside of Hackensack to its downtown and now is instead permitting development that will bring more residents to Main Street.

Englewood — A city of 27,000 three miles west of the George Washington Bridge, its downtown is one of North Jersey's more cosmopolitan, with the Bergen Performing Arts Center drawing patrons to its restaurants, and high-end fashion stores on Dean Street attracting the "Real Housewives of New Jersey." Englewood has the 150-unit Town Centre apartment building in the center of downtown, and last week the City Council adopted new zoning language to encourage residential projects downtown.

Westwood — This downtown is the hub of the Pascack Valley, and its main street, Westwood Avenue, has high-end fashion boutiques next to folksy candy and ice cream shops and a butcher store that have been neighborhood favorites for decades. Most of the stores are independently owned, rather than national chains. A mixed-use project with 14 residential units is under construction and its developer says the project will match the boutique character of the downtown stores.

Ridgewood — This village's downtown is one of the most vibrant in North Jersey, with its main street, Ridgewood Avenue, lined with five blocks of stores and restaurants, with additional retail and eateries on side streets. The stores range from mom-and-pop shops and one-of-a-kind boutiques to national chains including Gap, Starbucks and Lucky Jeans. The village is considering amending its master plan to allow residential apartment buildings in the downtown.

Source: NorthJersey.com