Author Topic: Abandoned Properties (New Ordinance)  (Read 8314 times)

Offline Editor

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« Last Edit: January 12, 2006, 09:51:51 AM by Editor »



Offline Skipx219

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Re: Abandoned Properties (New Ordinance)
« Reply #1 on: January 20, 2006, 01:11:07 PM »
 I read that Eric Martindale turned in 11 properties to be checked out.  Does anyone have the list?

ericmartindale

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Re: Abandoned Properties (New Ordinance)
« Reply #2 on: January 20, 2006, 01:50:49 PM »
No, I submitted a list of 28 properties. I estimate that there are 50 to 100 abandoned properties in Hackensack. Here's my list of those 28, plus 10 more that I have since found.

REVISED ABANDONED PROPERTIES LIST
BY ERIC MARTINDALE
HACKENSACK, NJ – JANUARY 20, 2006

(1) Beech Street between Summit & Prospect (burned house)
(2) Vacant Lot – SW corner of Summit & Beech Street (vacant partially overgrown land, 3 acres (about 13 years ago they threatened to build low-income housing)
(3) South side of Essex between Summit & Prospect – 2 boarded up houses (real estate
speculation – possible medical offices?)
(4) East side of Fair Street mid-way between Essex and Kansas
(vacant for generations)
(5) West side of Fair Street mid-way between Essex and Kansas
(6) Burned 3-family house, South State Street just south of Kansas Street (city should declare > 50% destroyed and not let them rebuild 3 units)
(7) NW Corner of South River Street and Lafayette Street
(8] 5 acre landfilled lot, South River Street across from Wysocki Place, “Nappa property”
(approved for townhouses in 1987, never built)
(9) Former gasoline station at South River Street and Kennedy Street (became a contractor property without city approvals)
(10) Abandoned Oil Tanks, South River Street just south of Route 80. Edgewater has the “Gold Coast”, we have the “Rust Coast”
(11) Abandoned industry, same area on South River Street
(12) NE corner of Hudson Street and Moonachie Road\
(13) there’s another small vacant lot across Hudson Street
(14) NW corner of Hudson Street and Frederick Place – vacant industrial building
(15) NW corner of Jackson Ave and Pink Street
(formerly a landscape contractor yard, now just a vacant lot)
(16) 64 Main Street, formerly Tropin Auto (this site was featured in campaign literature against the city council)
(17) East side of State Street near Clay Street
(18) Buildable vacant lot on Third Street north of Clay Street
(19) Alan Party Rental, Second Street between James and Berry
(PRIORITY SITE, ongoing community concern and activism)
(20) West side of Linden Ave at Ross Ave (abandoned auto repair – over 15 years ago)
(21) NW corner of Main and Linden – small abandoned building by the railroad
(22) West side of Fairmount Ave at Main Street (house torn down almost 20 years ago, lot
 remains vacant)
(23) Steep slope and wetlands along South Lake Drive
(not buildable, but city should acquire for stream corridor protection and open space)
(24) lot on east side of Main Street at Route 4
(city should acquire and make a “Welcome to Hackensack” pocket park)
(25) Hackensack Avenue boarding house; across from Target (abandoned for nearly 20 years)
(26) SE corner of River and Salem Street (formerly Cosmevo before fire)
(27) ½ acre between The Record and the railroad
(28) 269 Park Street and vacant lot – Nigito Realty owns both lots
       (a PRIORITY site, longstanding neighborhood concerns here)

Since this submittal, I have found several more abandoned properties

(29) Clinton Place ½ block east of Prospect. Foundation of a burned house, 2 years vacant. Extremely unsightly.
(30) Passaic Street, abandoned gas station east of Steve’s Sizzlin Steaks
(31) Passaic Street, abandoned house next door
(32) Passaic Street across Steve’s Sizzlin Steaks – abandoned auto dealership, 4+ yrs vacant
(33) First Street across from end of Sussex Street – foundation of office building, 20 yrs vacant. Councilman McAuliffe says 30 years, but that’s not correct
(34) Atlantic Street east of Union Street. Burned house.
(35) Gasoline Station at the corner of SE corner Essex and Summit Ave (wants to rebuild)
(36) former Texaco Gas station at NE corner of Essex and First Streets (approved for new bank)
(37) vacant lot, NE corner of Hackensack Ave and Temple Ave
(38) another vacant house, Essex near Prospect, very much overgrown. Vacant for about 18  years. Plans were approved to knock it down and expand the stores to the east.

Also, I did not investigate all the city’s industrial areas for fallow buildings, nor did I check for abandoned stores/buildings up and down Main Street.  I know that detailed investigations of those areas would yield some more.

I would estimate that there are 50 - 100 abandoned properties in the City of Hackensack.

« Last Edit: January 20, 2006, 11:10:05 PM by Editor »

Offline Editor

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Re: Abandoned Properties (New Ordinance)
« Reply #3 on: December 08, 2006, 09:45:47 AM »

ericmartindale

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Re: Abandoned Properties (New Ordinance)
« Reply #4 on: January 12, 2007, 10:50:48 PM »
The burned and abandoned house at 269 Park Street was leveled today by a contractor hired by the owner, Nigito Realty.  The house burned about 7 years ago, and has been a hideous eyesore for years.  It was an eyesore BEFORE it burned, to be honest.

This property was on the city's list of abandoned properties.  My understanding is that the city pressured Nigito Realty to resolve the issue of the blighted property. Well, that's what the contractor said.

This was the LAST blighted building remaining on Park Street, and it's removal is a dramatic improvement for the entire stretch from Central Ave to Passaic Street.

In the mid-1990's, a great many properties on Park Street were blighted, including an abandoned and overgrown church/house combo at the corner of Central Ave and three hideous two-family houses near Berry Street that were owned by absentee landlords and rented out as Section 8 welfare housing (it was bare dirt across 3 contiguous front lawns, with garbage cans kept permanently along the curb and the front doors left permenantly open, even in sub-freezing weather). There was dilapidated boarding houses, other houses with severe property maintenance issues, a bankrupt 40-unit condominium with 31 of the units as vacant and abandoned. And let's not forget the chaos at 370 Park Street (aka: "New Jack City"), where the police were there so much that they stationed one cop to live there undercover to try and control drug problems.  And last but not least, there was Salvatore Moretti's building, a 22-unit abandoned garden apartment complex near Passaic Street. 

Things were so bad by 1995 that it was an open question whether or not Park Street was worse than the middle section of Central Ave (which at the time was also worse than it is now).  I lived on Park Street at the time, and as a condo board member, I participated in the restoration of the bankrupt 40-unit condo at 300 Park Street. We taxed ourselves $5,000 a unit and retrofitted the entire building inside and out. Trust me, it was no small task to get a 3/4 majority of unit owners to agree to tax and spend on such a grand scale. (Thanks to Board President Anna Romero for spearheading that one.)

Then, with the assistance of Sgt. Patrick Fay and the Wellington Hall Nursing Home, the condo board started a neighborhood block watch. Although Fay was initially against it, the effort included pursuading the city to enforce property maintenance laws. In 1997, the city issued violations to 27 of the 33 houses on the 3-block stretch, and followed up diligently on every one of them (except for Nigito Realty's house). Then at our urging, City Manager Jim Lacava pushed the partnership of Abbott, Walsh, and Ingallinera to sell off the 3 welfare houses. These houses are now three "normal" owner-occupied houses at 347, 351, and 355 Park Street. People can drive by them without gasping and saying "Oh, my God, this is terrible".

Over the past 10 years, no street in Hackensack has improved MORE than Park Street.  The change has been stunning and dramatic.  All the problem properties have been resolved.  The street is stabilized.  We have a stable neighborhood as a BUFFER seperating the industrialized and unsightly Railroad Ave corridor from the city's downtown. No downtown can prosper as long as it is surrounded by troubled neighborhoods. Park Street can no longer be called "troubled". Strategically, Park Street is most critical to the future of Hackensack due to its geographic position. Few people realize that this "good neighborhood buffer" that has been restored along Park Street is ESSENTIAL to attracting redevelopment on State and Union Streets as well as the general improvement of the downtown.  With this base in place, things can only get better.

Even the zoning has changed to reflect residential stability. It is now R3A instead of R3B. The R3B zone potentially allowed large office buildings.  R3A allows 6-story multi-unit buildings, as well as houses.

Although the Nigito property now contains a vacant lot, which isn't a desirable use on this street, it is much improved. At least we can finally say that every single building on the street is in good condition. Kudo's to everyone involved regarding the demolition of 269 Park Street

 

anything