PARK RIDGE, N.J.—A five-story redevelopment project on 3.2 acres on Kinderkamack Road that includes 17,000 square feet of retail space and 240 rental apartments doesn’t look like much now, said Mayor Keith Misciagna, but it will look much better when completed in fall 2020.
Misciagna said some residents have criticized the project’s appearance, pointing out the ugliness of a large concrete parking garage now visible.
The garage, which will accommodate more than 400 vehicles, will be hidden from view on Kinderkamack Road when all is said and done, he told Pascack Press.
“Right now we’re looking at the guts of a building and a concrete parking garage. As construction continues, it will get a lot better and be much more attractive,” said the mayor.
Misciagna said the building provides 48 credits toward Park Ridge’s affordable housing obligations, with 24 affordable rental units. The development is part of Park Ridge’s transit village, a state designation awarded to the borough in 2015.
Misciagna said the construction company—Claremont Companies—and redeveloper, Park Ridge Transit LLC, plan to put a rendering of the finished project on fencing along Kinderkamack Road so passerby can envision what the final project’s appearance will look like.
“The thing that’s most objectionable about it is you’re seeing only the parking garage, but when the final redevelopment project is done you won’t even see it,” said Misciagna.
He said the ground-level retail shops and apartment complex will “wrap completely around it” and obscure the parking deck from street-view.
Misciagna said as part of the agreement with Park Transit that the developer contributes $500,000 toward a community center, with a public plaza, a space for outdoor dining, and other areas for residents to relax.
He said a new bus stop, additional parking stalls, and a widening of Kinderkamack Road are planned. Specifically, 423 parking spaces, most in a parking garage now visible.
Of 240 rental units planned, 24 are studio apartments, 137 are one-bedroom, and and 74 two-bedroom, and five three-bedroom.
Even nearby Montvale Mayor Michael Ghassali has criticized the project’s scale on social media.
“While it’s going to be big, it will be an attractive finished product that will benefit our downtown,” said Misciagna.
‘Much better’ for residents
“What we had there was a blighted area and a waste transfer site that were eyesores. This will be much better for our residents,” the mayor noted.
In mid-2017, before it was approved by the Planning Board, the developer’s planner, John McDonough, said the development would pump $2 million into Park Ridge’s economy.
In May 2017, the borough approved a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreement in which the developer pays the borough and county about $28.7 million over 30 years instead of annual property taxes.
The applicant planner estimated the 240 rental units would generate 16 school-age children—four from market-rate units and 12 from affordable units.
He said the additional children will not be a major impact on local schools.
When a waste transfer station resided there, Misciagna said hundreds of garbage trucks clogged local streets daily, adding foul smells and dropping garbage.
“It’s going to be big, a little bit bigger than what we’re used to,” he said. “But what we had smelled and was an eyesore.”
The site is located on the west side of Kinderkamack Road between Berthoud Street and Madison Avenue, near NJ Transit’s rail lines, and was declared an area in need of redevelopment in 2015 by Park Ridge.
Correction (May 31, 10:23 a.m.): An earlier version of this article said Montvale Mayor Michael Ghassali criticized the project’s scale on social media, after he heard Misciagna criticized a 185-unit “inclusionary development” currently proposed by Hornrock Properties for Montvale. In fact, Misciagna was responding the Ghassali’s criticism.
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