A luxury development in the revitalized downtown of Hackensack is threatening to displace several store owners.
A six-story, 130-unit building has been proposed to replace five buildings and a parking lot, NorthJersey.com reported. One of the businesses in its footprint, Bruce the Bed King at 467 Main Street, is shuttered. But others are still open.
Among them is O’Shea Printing, which is run by Erin Bracken and has been in her family for a half-century. She only learned of the development from a newspaper article.
“We’re on a month-to-month. We haven’t been on a lease in a long time. Shame on me, that was a bad decision, but we’ve also been there for 50 years,” Bracken said. “I expect some notice.”
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The property manager, Hekemian and Co., told Bracken her building would be demolished if the development plans were approved. Bracken may be forced to vacate by April 1, according to Hekemian. Craig Kerbekian, a senior vice president for the company, said notifying Bracken “slipped through the cracks” that she would be allowed to remain until August.
A restaurant called Salvadoreno Santa Fe and an attorney’s office are also endangered by the development proposal. Zohara 463 LLC, which is buying the property, sent a notice to the restaurant owner months ago trying to cancel the lease, which runs through November.
“I want to finish my lease. Business is good and it’s very expensive to move,” Adriana Castaneda told NorthJersey.com. “If I go to start another place, it’s difficult. I would have to start again.”
The project is part of a development boom that promises to reshape Hackensack’s downtown, replacing vacant storefronts with mixed-use rental buildings. More than two dozen projects are in the works, according to NorthJersey.com.
“I’m not opposed to change, but when I look at all of these buildings that have shot up the last few years, and all the old places that aren’t around anymore, I don’t know if it feels like a community,” Bracken said.
[NorthJersey.com] — Holden Walter-Warner