BY JOHN SNYDER AND
MICHAEL OLOHAN
WOODCLIFF LAKE— Short Hills-based Garden Homes this week said it became the contract purchaser for the Woodcliff Lake Hilton, “a distressed Bergen County hotel property,” and is “exploring a variety of redevelopment options for the desirably located, 21-acre site at 200 Tice Boulevard.”
The Woodcliff Lake Hilton—a long-time staple in the Pascack Valley, and the site of many class reunions, wedding receptions, and other celebrations held locally—was slated for closure and offered for sale via auction.
Says a press release from Garden Homes shared with Pascack Press on Feb. 7, “the next chapter will focus on the best and highest use for the Bergen County site.”
Garden Homes touted its seven decades of involvement in the New Jersey marketplace, and its Garden Communities and Garden Commercial divisions having developed “tens of thousands of for-sale homes and rental apartments, and millions of square feet of commercial space in the region,” in noting the success of “recently completed for-sale communities in Allendale and River Vale; successful luxury rental properties such as The Jefferson in Hackensack, The Dayton in Ridgewood and Washington Promenade in Dumont; and the award-winning, mixed-use Fair Lawn Promenade in Fair Lawn.”
“The depth of our experience and the diversity of our platform enables us to consider every alternative—and deliver exceptional quality—across a range of real estate categories, from for-sale and rental residential to commercial and mixed-use,” said Scott Loventhal, one of the firm’s developers, in the statement.
He added, “For four decades, the Woodcliff Lake Hilton has been a center of community; no one wanted to see this property become yet another post-pandemic, stranded hospitality asset. We will approach its redevelopment thoughtfully and in a manner that will best serve the borough’s future, with the evolving real estate market in mind.”
Loventhal said, “200 Tice Boulevard sits just off the Garden State Parkway, 30 minutes from Manhattan. Simply put, this is an exceptional location. We are thrilled to add the property to our portfolio and look forward to working closely with the borough and its stakeholders as we write its exciting next chapter.”
The statement said, “Collectively, Garden Homes, Garden Communities and Garden Commercial maintain a robust project pipeline that will introduce dozens of new communities and commercial spaces nationally over the next several years—including many alternate use redevelopment initiatives. Its vertically integrated operations provide full in-house support from site acquisition to leasing and property management, from infancy to stabilization.”
Mayor says news is ‘big,’ ‘sad’
At the annual Greater Pascack Valley Chamber of Commerce “Breakfast With the Mayors” on Jan. 24 in Westwood, Woodcliff Lake Mayor Carlos Rendo reported in part that the sale of the Hilton Hotel, and its planned closing in February—and the likelihood of a new Galaxy Gardens passive park by year’s end—were news trends likely to dominate this year in the borough.
Rendo said the “big news” was that the Hilton Hotel sold at auction for $50.7 million. He said the new owners were the owners of the Minnesota Vikings, the Wolf Family, “so they’re looking to do something to that area.”
According to an online real estate site, the Hilton Hotel consisted of a 21.1-acre property, operational since 1980, with 338 rooms and 604 parking spaces.
Rendo said the “sad news” is the Hilton would shed all its employees in the closure. “It’s sad to see the Hilton go. We are pushing to bring in another hotel because we wanted to keep our hotel tax and also our extra liquor license.”
Rendo said the borough planned to meet with the development group again soon to see what plans they have for the area, including, perhaps, housing. He said the borough would look at “the entire area” including Tice Boulevard and the Broadway Corridor area, “to improve, to see what we can do.” By that he meant including ordinances, and areas in need of redevelopment, and to maintain the Tice Center, “so that way we don’t keep on losing stores to Montvale.”