EMERSON—An application will be heard Thursday, Jan. 8, at 7:30 p.m. before the Land Use Board to demolish the current facility and construct a new 2 1/2-story, 122-unit assisted living facility, Home for the Armenian Aged, on the site of the former Armenian Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.
The in-person-only session will lead with the board’s annual reorganization.
The long-awaited application to redevelop the former venerable home, which closed Easter Sunday, April 4, 2021, was rumored to be in progress for years but was only recently submitted by the applicant, Home for the Armenian Aged Inc. The property is on Main Street between Clinton Street and Glenwood Avenue, with frontage on Main, Clinton and Broad streets. Plans show a new driveway on Main Street serving the entrance and a 40-space lot, plus two Broad Street driveways serving 23 additional spaces.
In a memo submitted with the application, a planner for the applicant notes the existing nursing home has operated on the site since 1938, expanding over time to the current 86-bed facility. The memo says the existing building is deteriorating and is not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and argues that a new assisted living facility would benefit Emerson, Bergen County and New Jersey.
The application requests a “D” variance, also known as a use variance, in association with an increased floor area ratio, as well as an assisted living facility in a residential (R-7.5) zone. The proposed site plan application was carried from Dec. 4, 2025 and has been deemed complete.
The application for 70 Main St., a 3.5-acre tract that currently houses the former Armenian nursing home, requests a total of 122 assisted living units. This includes 36 memory care units, 36 assisted living studios, 47 one-bedroom units and three two-bedroom units.
The application states, “Despite the requested variance relief, the benefits to granting the application far exceed any perceived detriments.” It also says a “skilled nursing facility” of 120 beds “was already approved at the site” per a resolution adopted by the Land Use Board on Feb. 2, 2012.
The application describes the facility as three stories, including 44,635 square feet on the first floor, which includes 49 units; a second floor of 45,317 square feet, which includes 49 units; and a third floor of 30,925 square feet, which includes 24 units.
Other variances sought include building height on Broad Street (40 feet permitted; 40.5 feet proposed); building height on Main Street (40 feet permitted; 43.5 feet proposed); maximum floor area ratio (50% permitted; 78.5% proposed); and minimum parking space size (10 feet by 20 feet permitted; 9 feet by 18 feet proposed), plus one 8-foot-by-18-foot space for ADA parking.
Other variances requested include maximum freestanding wall height (6 feet permitted; 10 feet proposed) and minimum driveway distance to intersecting street right-of-way (50 feet required; 0 feet proposed).
Resident Michelle Whitney-Rizzo launched a petition opposing the variance application, asserting the proposed assisted living facility is oversized and could negatively affect traffic safety, the environment, neighborhood character, property values and quality of life. The petition urges the Land Use Board to deny the application outright, and seeks grassroots support at the meeting. The effort has 114 signers as of Jan. 6.
At least seven proposal documents can be found on the Land Use Board website under “Land Use Board Pending Applications,” including a variance application, architectural plan, drainage plan, stormwater plan, site plan, traffic study and a planner’s memo on how the proposal meets the board’s criteria tests.
