The Cancer Center will be on the north side of Atlantic Street from First Street to Second Street. One house will be left on Second Street, sandwhiched between the Cancer Center and the Dawn Manor apartments. Four houses were torn down years ago, and a commercial building on First Street that used to be a roller skating rink will be leveled. The giant parking garage will run on the north side of Atlantic Street from Second Street to the top of the hill. It will replace vacant land and quite a few 1950's-era houses, most of which are vacant or converted into offices.
The biggest visual impact to the city will be the canyon-like effect created on Atlantic Street, which will be unlike anything we have ever seen in Hackensack. This is because buildings on both sides were given variances to build very close to the street. It will look like a street in Manhattan, and when it is done people will say "Oh my God, look at this density", why was HUMC allowed to build this way. In the future, people will wonder who was on the city boards and who was in power politically when this was done. The problem started with the Don Imus Center, they were allowed to build much closer to Atlantic Street than the zoning allowed, and that just set the precedent for all additional projects. This is a very big change to Hackensack, to the "feel" of the community. It's not like the high-rises of Prospect Ave, with all their gracious front landscaping.
The bottom line is GREED, pure GREED. The hospital could have been built with all the front and side yard setbacks but that would have required more land, and the cost to maintain more landscaping. Not helping the matter were the people in the Executive House, who litigated the matter to shift the parking tower even closer to Atlantic Street.
Does anyone know the year that the Don Imus Center was approved by the Zoning Board. I am wondering if that was done during the Cerbo administration or the Zisa administration, or perhaps early in the tenure of the Zisa years when Cerbo's appointees still controlled the Zoning Board.
I agree that the city is not getting a good deal financially, that the one-time $1 million is chump change compared to the revenues it would have contributed. This Cancer Center plus parking is LARGER than 20 Prospect Ave, so it would likely have contributed $3 million or more EVERY YEAR to the city. That's $30 million every 10 years.
Where's the real power in Hackensack
Good question, let's look at the evidence. HUMC's annual budget is over $1 billion, and that dwarfs the city's budget. Their Board of Governors is more powerful than the city administration and more connected politically statewide. I would say the #1 power in Hackensack is HUMC, the #2 power is the Hackensack Police Department, and our city council vies with The Record for spot #3 (and that is one of many reasons why the have an adversarial relationship with The Record).