Demolition under way to kick start biggest renewal project in downtown Hackensack

About half of the building that once housed Rainbow Castle Preschool on Main Street in Hackensack has been knocked down. What will replace it isn't known.

The Home Discount Center across the street has gone out of business.

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

The Rainbow Castle Preschool building damaged by a pile-driving rig working on Hackensack's biggest downtown renewal project is coming down.

Once the site is cleared, work is expected to resume on the 14-story apartment and retail building at Main and Mercer streets, still basically a big hole with steel beams protruding from the ground.

City officials ordered an evacuation of the preschool building in late July 2016, and also halted work on the project next door.

See: Construction closes day care center

The Rainbow Castle Preschool building at 142-48 Main St., Hackensack, in January 2017.

When completed, 150-70 Main St. will have 382 apartments and 7,500 square feet of new retail space on Main and Mercer streets, according to Alkova Cos., the developer. The building was expected to be completed in 24 months to 30 months, but now is more than a year behind schedule.

Hackensack builder to demolish damaged structure, resume work on apartments

The developer of  a 14-story apartment tower at Main and Mercer streets in downtown Hackensack has agreed to demolish a 2-story building at 142-48 Main St. that was damaged by construction work last summer, above.

Unresolved issues include compensation for the owner of the Rainbow Castle Preschool building after it is torn down, and when construction on the apartments will resume, above. 

 -- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

Work on a 14-story apartment and retail building in downtown Hackensack is expected to resume after the developer tears down a preschool that was damaged 10 months ago.

City building officials stopped the construction last July after a pile-driving rig damaged and forced the evacuation of a 2-story, L-shaped building next to the site.

Now, Alkova Cos., the Edison-based developer, has agreed to tear down the damaged structure, which was condemned.

Other projects

Although the project was the biggest and most visible in the city's ambitious downtown redevelopment plan when it ground to a halt last July, work on several other residential and retail projects continued.

In the campaign leading up to Tuesday's municipal election, two slates of challengers have wrongly blamed Mayor John Labrosse and his running mates for the stalled construction at 150-70 Main St.

The Record of Woodland Park ignored the suspension of work on the 382-unit building until last month, when an uninformed high-rise resident brought it up at private forum on Prospect Avenue.

"The work site is just a bare foundation," Staff Writer Rodrigo Torrejon reported, even though the foundation hasn't been built.

A view from Moore Street of the preschool building that will be demolished.

Work continues on converting the old United Jersey Bank at 210 Main St. into apartments. The onetime office tower, built in 1926, will have 127 units crowned by an 11th floor with three duplex penthouse apartments.

An adjacent building on Moore Street also is being renovated.

On East Camden Street, this is all that's left of the Oritani Field Club, which was founded in 1887. The club closed in 2015, below. A 254-unit, 5-story apartment complex will be built on the site, which is across River Street from Hackensack Toyota.

Hekemian & Co., a Hackensack-based real estate development and management company, bought the club's 2.3 acres.

Hackensack school board attorney has meltdown after he is accused of a conflict

Work on a 14-story apartment and retail building at Main and Mercer streets in Hackensack was halted last July after a pile-driving rig damaged a two-story building next to the site, below. 

An arbitrator will decide how much the apartment developer, Alkova Cos. of Edison, will pay the owner of the boarded-up building, which housed Rainbow Castle Preschool.

PLUS: HACKENSACK IS GETTING

NEW, EXPANDED FOOD MARKETS

--HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

A video shows Richard Salkin, the attorney for the Hackensack Board of Education, lashing out at Mayor John Labrosse at Tuesday's meeting, and talking over school board President Jason Nunnermacker, who advised him not to comment.

Labrosse went to the meeting to discuss a teacher "who appears to have distributed campaign material on school time, which is a potential violation of school policy," The Record reported on Thursday.

A photo of an angry, finger-pointing Salkin ran with the story in the Local news section.

The Record has identified both Salkin and Nunnermacker as attorneys for Hackensack United for Progress, a slate backed by the Zisa family political dynasty in the upcoming City Council election.

And school board Vice President Lara L. Rodriguez heads the slate. 

They are seeking to defeat the Labrosse slate of reformers, who were elected in May 2013, defeating another slate of Zisa allies, including Nunnermacker.

At the school board meeting, Labrosse asked Superintendent Joseph Ciccelli whether Salkin disclosed that he represented the Hackensack United for Progress slate and by extension, high school teacher Caseen Gaines, its campaign manager.

Labrosse also wanted to know whether Salkin had offered a legal opinion on whether Gaines should be disciplined.

Ciccelli declined to answer, but Salkin denounced the mayor, despite Nunnermacker's attempts to silence him.

Video: Mayor alleges 'breach of professional ethics'

The Zisas, who ruled Hackensack for decades, signaled their intent to run candidates in the May 9 City Council election when they formed Team Hackensack early last year.

See: A power grab with meatballs on the side

A new 17,000-square-foot ALDI Supermarket is under construction at 480-92 Main St. in Hackensack, on land leased from Sears.

The Giant Farmers Market at 324 Main St. is expected to look like this after completion of an expansion to 17,300 square feet and renovations to the facade.

New food options

ALDI hasn't announced a grand opening date for its new supermarket, which is under construction on land leased from Sears in Hackensack.

Also underway is the expansion of the Giant Farmers Market, including renovation of the facade and upgrades to the parking lot.

Both will serve hundreds of apartment dwellers, whose only option within walking distance now is the grocery section in Target.

Meanwhile, the Hackensack City Council is moving to redevelop the site of the building at 142-48 Main St. that was damaged last July by construction of a 14-story apartment and retail project at Main and Mercer streets.

An arbitrator is hearing the claim of the building owner, Fairway Terrace Corp. of Norwood, which is seeking millions of dollars in compensation from the construction company, Alkova Cos.

See: Construction closes day care center building

Also: Construction driving everyone bananas

Work on the ALDI Food Market, above, and Giant Farmers Market, below, on March 22.

A new structure, left, will allow expansion of the Giant Farmers Market.

On March 17, snow covered the idle site of a 14-story apartment and retail building at Main and Mercer streets, the biggest project so far in Hackensack's ambitious downtown rehabilitation plan.