Business owners give their take on ambitious downtown effort in HackensackFriday August 31, 2012, 9:16 AM
BY CAESAR DARIAS
CORRESPONDENT
Hackensack Chronicle
In June, the Hackensack City Council unanimously approved an ambitious plan to transform the city's downtown shopping area into a modern district where people live, work and enjoy a nightlife.
CAESAR DARIAS/PHOTO
Lorraine Currence has been working as a hairstylist at Straight Nappy for seven years. 'That would be very good,' she said about Hackensack's downtown redevelopment plan. 'Main street is really dead. If we get a lot of pedestrian traffic that will bring business then I'm all for that.' "That would be great because we really need some kind of business," said Rosayde Ramirez, 31, who has owned Phiefer's & El Portero restaurant on Main Street for six years. "Hackensack is very dead, especially at night time. I've been open 6:30 to 9 p.m. and there's no business after four o'clock."
City Manager Stephen Lo Iacono said if he could address Main Street merchants he would tell them that if the plan is completed they "will have an awful lot more people in the district as potential customers. His property values are going to increase because all the properties around him are going to be significantly improved."
The City of Hackensack Rehabilitation Plan, however, is a long-term solution that could take a decade to complete, said Lo Iacono.
According to the detailed two-volume plan prepared by DMR Architects of Hasbrouck Heights, "approximately 163.80 acres on 389 parcels in 39 city blocks" would be transformed into a "livable, real and clearly defined downtown district."
"What we hope to see is a mixed use area with many more people living in the Main Street district," said Lo Iacono.
The plan has several major components starting with overhauling zoning laws, a goal that was achieved when the city council approved the plan.
"Existing zoning is archaic," said Lo Iacono. "If someone wants to come in and establish a new business such as a restaurant, the old zoning laws governing parking, outdoor dining, setbacks from the streets, have made it impossible."
Luis Ortiz, 40, would agree. He started his first business in Hackensack 20 years ago selling hot dogs out of a small shop. He now owns five businesses in Hackensack including MetroPCS and Detalles.
"It's a Christian book store," said Ortiz. "We also do money transfers and shipping services." Ortiz rents six apartments above Detalles.
Ortiz said he agrees that zoning laws can be burdensome on businesses. "They have rules but sometimes for a business owner it takes a lot of time and frustration to open a business," said Ortiz. "We want a merchant-friendly town."
"We've had reputation that we were not developer friendly," said Lo Iacono. "We're making a very, very concerted attempt to change that perception."
The plan calls for the "total restructuring of the parking system." said Lo Iacono. "Right now we have a tremendous amount of surface parking. It's not well placed. And people don't realize where it is."
Lo Iacono said parking requirements were "impossible to meet." They have "established a system of shared parking" which allows spaces to be used by business and residents.
The plan would "turn one way streets into two way streets," said Lo Iacono. "Signals, signage and intersections would need to be redone in some cases. It's a pretty significant undertaking. Everything that we've gotten from planners, developers says there are no successful downtowns that have a one-way circulation."
Zoning law changes would encourage "Catalyst Development," which is a project analogous to an anchor store in a mall. "It's a project that could be transformative on Main Street," said Lo Iacono. According the plan, a Catalyst project would be "over 400,000 leasable square feet" (not including a parking deck) and up to 14 stories, or 176 feet tall, exceeding the law's 5 story limit.
Lo Iacono said the first infrastructure project will address sewer and water changes. "We have a combined sewer system that runs through the downtown area right now and we're already taking the first steps to separate it so it can better handle the increased load."
Lo Iacono said the first third of the sewer project will cost about $3 million.
"That's not to say the whole thing is going to cost $9 million," said Lo Iacono. The city will borrow money to complete the project, which could begin next year," Lo Iacono said.
"That's work that needs to be done whether we were doing this rehab or not," said Lo Iacono. "The sewer system in that area is really overburdened."
Asked if the city has a cost estimate for the entire rehabilitation plan, Lo Iacono said, "No we do not."
Whatever the final cost, Lo Iacono said the city will essentially borrow all the money. Hackensack has an $87 million annual budget and, according to the city's 2011 debt statement, they carry about $43.5 million in debt.
According to the plan, possible funding mechanisms to pay debt include "levying a special tax assessment on all or a portion of a Catalyst Development Project," "allocating revenues generated by public parking facilities" and "the sale of public owned property to the designated developer(s) as part of a development project."
As the plan moves forward, it's not only business owners who stand to benefit.
Lorraine Currence has been working as a hairstylist at Straight Nappy for seven years. "That would be very good," she said about the plan. "Main street is really dead. If we get a lot of pedestrian traffic that will bring business then I'm all for that."
Currence, who states her age as "old enough," said the economy has impacted her bottom line. "A lot of clients don't come simply because they can't afford it," she said while performing a weave, which can cost $100 and up. "And they have to put their priorities right. Some don't come."
When asked his opinion about the plan, Leon A. Isufi, who owns Main Galaxy, an art gallery, custom framing and photo restoration store, said, "Stop lying because they have no plans. They try to put people to sleep pretending that they are working. But they've been saying that for the last 40 years."
Isufi, 67, has owned his business for 33 years. He says his taxes went up $4,300 last year. "I get $18,000 rent from the store next door. I pay (Hackensack) $17,645. Basically I am working for the town, for their pensions, for their salaries, for their vacations, nepotism, favoritism, everything.
"I own the building but I'm not the owner," Isufi said. "I work for them. They milk me like a cow. They take our money. They promise everything. In the end they do nothing."
Albert H. Dib is the executive director of the Upper Main Street Alliance, a business improvement organization with a $360,000 annual budget funded through a mandatory assessment on 375 businesses on Main Street from Atlantic Street to Clinton Place.
He supports the plan and says it could help to stabilize taxes. "When you get a fully rehabilitated downtown and when it's generating the taxes it should ... what you hope happens is you would see a general lessening of the tax burden," said Dib, who also works as a legal analyst for the city manager.
"There's very little residential base," said Dib. "Nobody lives here. That's why mixed use become such an important element."
Although a member of the Alliance's board of directors, Ortiz said he said he was not speaking on their behalf. He believes they can play an important role on Main Street. "In the case of cleaning and improving the storefronts and having a group organized so that everybody has the same goals, it's better right now," he said.
"The downtown area in Hackensack fell into somewhat disrepair over the past 25, 30, 35 years," said Lo Iacono. "It was the shopping hub for Bergen County back in the 50s and 60s.
Lo Iacono said "the onset of the highway stores, the big box stores and the flight to the suburbs" drove customers away from downtown.
According to Lo Iacono, cities like Morristown, New Brunswick, Red Bank and Rahway have taken downtowns that were in trouble and achieved a transformation. He believes Hackensack can model the same approach.
In September, the city has invited about 60 developers to review the rehabilitation plan, according to Lo Iacono.
Despite current economic difficulties and high unemployment, Lo Iacono says the rehabilitation plan will "put us in the position to take advantage of the rebound when it comes."
Rehabilitation plan details can be found at
http://www.hackensack.org/content/5637/default.aspx