PASCACK VALLEY AREA, N.J.—Economic development in the Borough of Montvale continues rapidly changing the once rural community into a hub of residential and retail building, and a magnet for new businesses—mirroring changes gradually transforming towns throughout the region.
Some changes have been driven by affordable housing settlements mandated under state law, and others reflect shifts in the retail and commercial real estate markets.
In 2013, the owners of DePiero’s Farm in Montvale—then one of Bergen County’s last remaining farms—decided to sell. Now in its place is an upscale shopping mall anchored by Wegmans supermarket.
Other planned developments in the borough include a 350-unit mixed-use residential development on the former Mercedes-Benz corporate site; 80 townhouse-style homes on a 13-acre site formerly owned by A&P; and 185 units on a 7-acre property formerly owned by Sony Corp.
Montvale Mayor Michael Ghassali—speaking ahead of the Feb. 4 Montvale Chamber of Commerce 2020 Regional Kick-Off event—said town leaders like to think of the borough as a hub for development, new businesses and opportunities.
Ghassali spoke to Pascack Press regarding the new development planned at the former Mercedes-Benz property on Mercedes Drive, directly opposite the Shoppes at DePiero’s Farm, both developments of S. Hekemian Group, a global developer of luxury residential and retail properties.
Chamber event Feb. 4
Ghassali said the Feb. 4 Montvale Chamber of Commerce Regional Kick-Off Event, 5:30–7:30 p.m. at KPMG, 3 Chestnut Ridge Road, will mostly be a business networking session, but also focus on the benefits to business locating in Montvale.
“We are continuing to make Montvale more pro-business. We don’t want to be the obstacle to new business, we want to be the solution to them,” Ghassali said.
The event will include brief presentations from area business and government leaders who will offer insights into local business opportunities.
In addition to Ghassali, KPMG Managing Director Carol Muldoon, S. Hekemian Senior Managing Director Peter Hekemian, (developer of Shoppes at DePiero Farm and the Mercedes-Benz site), and Montvale Planning Board Chair John DePinto will speak on local business concerns.
Ghassali said a representative of the S. Hekemian Group may use Feb. 4 as a forum to announce a major client to anchor its development on the former Mercedes-Benz site.
He said Montvale has spent nearly $5 million on seven intersections to expedite and improve traffic flow near the two S. Hekemian developments on Mercedes Drive.
Multiple published reports last week said local law firm Beattie Padovano LLC signed a 12-year lease for 20,000 square feet at the S. Hekemian development Workplace North Market, an under-development office property expected to be a 52,000-square-foot mixed-use office and retail building at the former Mercedes-Benz site.
Local municipalities, guided by the state’s Municipal Land Use Law, and utilizing town planners and zoning regulations, work with property owners to determine appropriate site-by-site uses.
Ghassali said while he tries to cooperate with area mayors on regional impacts of development, “we have different priorities and different needs.”
In one such case—at the 37-acre former Sony Corp. campus that straddles the Park Ridge and Montvale border, alongside Woodcliff Lake—two neighboring communities chose divergent strategies.
“We reluctantly settled,” Ghassali said of the borough’s affordable housing negotiations. “We cannot fight a losing battle and lose taxpayers’ dollars.”
Previously, Ghassali had railed against the current Superior Court jurisdiction over affordable housing, mandated by the state’s Fair Share Housing Law.
The Montvale settlement agreement covers the years 2015–2025. It called for 615 new residential units, including 106 affordable units.
“Come 2025, we will fight. We will not sit idly by; we have met our obligation,” said the mayor.
Soon after Montvale settled, Woodcliff Lake also settled its affordable agreement.
Only Park Ridge remains without a settlement. The borough allowed for a major redevelopment on Kinderkamack Road that does provide for 24 affordable rental units. The five-story, 240-unit rental apartment building with 17,000 square feet of retail space is part of a transit village.
The development will impact Park Ridge schools as well as local traffic patterns along busy Kinderkamack Road.
Park Ridge’s resistance to settling affordable obligations hinges mostly on what Mayor Keith Misciagna often refers to as “high-density overdevelopment” to provide affordable units.
Should a court judgment go against Park Ridge—a Feb. 24 court date was recently postponed—it may be forced to allow units on the 30-acre of the Sony site within its borders, adding to increased population and traffic.
Hornrock Properties, an intervenor in Park Ridge’s affordable housing litigation, claims that it can build up to 972 units on the site to help fulfill Park Ridge’s “unmet need” for affordable units. Park Ridge asserts that its plan, which also includes construction of a 100% affordable 51-unit complex, satisfies its obligation.
Large developments all around
Other towns undertaking major developments include River Vale, where a 249-unit townhome development is being built on nine holes of a formerly 27-hole Edgewood Country Club golf course.
The new development, which includes 24 affordable units, was approved last summer. Construction has yet to begin.
The development will require widening of roads along Piermont Avenue and approaching Piermont on Rivervale Road. It was approved following seven hearings, with many residents opposed but planners approving the new development under pressure to fulfill its affordable housing plan.
In nearby Old Tappan, a 229-unit mixed-use residential/retail development on a 19-acre former Pearson Education site is planned next to its only heavily trafficked shopping plaza.
A special zone was created for the inclusionary development, which is in hearings before the borough’s Planning Board.
Many residents have criticized the development as oversized but but council members approved rezoning to meet a court-mandated deadline on its affordable housing plan.
In Emerson, a new “Emerson Station” redevelopment mixed-use zone is underway and includes 147 apartments, 14,000 square feet of retail space, including up to 29 affordable units.
In Hillsdale, about 14 acres are planned for redevelopment in a former industrial zone with options ranging from mixed use development to assisted living and senior living. No decisions have been made.
Even in Haworth, where the small borough settled its affordable plan under Superior Court deadline in June 2019, the borough agreed to build a 41-unit multifamily complex on a 5.5-acre site with nine affordable units and a 35-unit complex with 14 affordable units.
In Englewood Cliffs, which took its affordable housing settlement to trial last fall, the borough was ordered Jan. 17 to provide for 347 units of affordable housing, including construction of a 600-unit complex on Sylvan Avenue, with 100 affordable units.
The judge’s decision noted that the borough has not allowed a single unit of affordable housing in nearly four decades.
The borough plans to appeal the Superior Court decision, said Mayor Mario Kranjac.
