MONTVALE—Two of the borough’s largest real estate transactions are wrapping up, with the sale of 28.4 acres at 127 Summit Ave. to Veolia North America, and the borough’s purchase of 8.4 acres of farmland from DePiero’s Farm moving steadily along, said borough officials.
Borough Attorney David Lafferty said March 14 that the borough was set to close on the sale of the 127 Summit Ave. property on March 15 to Veolia, while pocketing a $225,000 profit on the sale.
In addition, he updated officials on where purchasing DePiero’s farm acreage stood.
Lafferty said at the 127 Summit Ave. closing, the borough would be reimbursed for administrative costs, appraisals and legal fees.
Veolia plans to site two water towers on the property that will increase townwide water pressure, officials previously said.
The borough bought 127 Summit Ave. in late 2022 for $4.5 million, partly to prevent any future development, and for future recreational uses, Ghassali said then.
Previously, a developer, Waypoint Residential, had proposed an active senior adult complex featuring 170 apartments, eventually reducing the proposal to 157 units, before withdrawing the application.
When it was acquired, Ghassali said that the property only had about 17 buildable acres but due to wetlands, stream buffers and topography, that was also likely reduced.
Over months of talks with Veolia North America on where best to construct a water tower to help improve water pressure on the west side of town, the council approved Ordinance 2023-1544 to add “public utility facilities as permitted uses in the AH-6 (affordable housing) zone” which includes 127 Summit Ave.
At its Oct. 24, 2023 meeting, the council approved a consent resolution authorizing the public sale (auction) of property identified as 127 Summit Ave. for a minimum bid price of $4,725,000, which is $225,000 over its $4.5 million cost.
Purchasing 8.4 acres of DePiero’s historic farm
Lafferty said the owners of DePiero Farm were currently before the Planning Board seeking site plan and subdivision approval for the sale of the property to Montvale Landscapers as well as the borough.
He said the owners were next before the board on March 19 and believed that might be the final hearing.
Last September, Mayor Mike Ghassali said that residents would soon be picking their own strawberries on a pick-your-own farm to be operated on a portion of the 8.4 acres of the former DePiero farmland if the site is acquired.
He also said it was likely other crops would be grown there, as the borough was hoping to keep the farm operating as a faem, and would seek out other farmers interested in growing crops.
The borough plans to acquire the 8.4 acres of DePiero Farm property on Summit and Craig avenues for $5.15 million in bonds, which were approved in May, 2023.
The mayor told residents last year that local officials had formulated a plan to run the soon-to-be-acquired farmland as a pick-your-own strawberry patch and to use part of it for a community garden.
Ghassali told residents, “This is exciting as we will have the only pick-your-own strawberries farm in Bergen County and it will open up opportunities for farm grants to the borough in the future.”
Montvale Landscaping is also acquiring 6.5 acres of DePiero Farm property to expand its operations there.
Borough administrator Joseph Voytus previously told us the borough hoped that the strawberry fields proposed may not come until 2025 due to a condition allowing DePiero’s Farm and Farmstand to operate in 2024.
Voytus said one condition of acquiring the 8.4 acres will include allowing the DePiero family to operate the farm through 2024, which will mark the family’s 100th year of farming in Montvale.
Two other highly popular farms, Van Riper’s Farm and Tice’s Farm, both based in nearby Woodcliff Lake off of Chestnut Ridge Road, sold in the mid- and late 1990s, respectively.
Van Riper’s was converted into an A&P supermarket and mini mall in 1994. The supermarket was later turned into a Whole Foods.
In 1998, the 26-acre Tice Farms sold and was later converted into a mini-mall, Tice’s Corner Marketplace, and office park. No remnants of the former farms remain on the now-developed properties.