The Hackensack City Council recently approved a financial agreement that could pave the way for more apartments and retail along Main Street. City administrators voted unanimously to approve a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement for the redevelopment of storefronts between Clinton Avenue and Maple Place, including the former location of Bruce the Bed King mattress store.
The final ordinance, signed into law earlier this year, states that the redeveloper, 463 Main Street Urban Renewal, plans to demolish four commercial buildings and construct a six-story, 130-unit apartment building with 173 parking spaces, an outdoor pool, and a rooftop plaza. The project is expected to create 87 permanent jobs and cost approximately $57 million.
According to the ordinance, the tax exemption agreement will last for 15 years following ‘substantial’ completion. The developer will incur an annual service charge of more than $561,882 in the first year that occupancy exceeds 90%, which reflects a significant gain from the $142,572 in annual taxes that the parcels currently generate.
Documents filed with the city planning board in November 2022 indicate that the parcels are owned by Hackensack-based developer Hekemian. The developer is also an affiliate of Brickyard Urban Renewal, which owns The Current on River apartment complex, located four blocks south between East Camden and Berry Streets. Hekemian developed the 254-unit apartment complex in 2020, adding a garage, fitness center, pool, and sundeck.
While the proposed development promises to bring new life to an area of the city that has undergone rapid changes over the past decade, the project will require demolishing a building that once housed a city mainstay – Bruce the Bed King. The mattress store began operating in Hackensack in 1954, but the Wiener family, the owners of the business, had been retailers in the city since the 1920s. The family’s business was founded by Morris L. Wiener, whose children later opened the mattress store at 463 Main Street. The store operated for over 65 years before closing in 2019.
At its peak, the family owned more than 14 stores in New Jersey, but by the time the Main Street location closed, only two stores remained—in Hackensack and Paramus, according to a report by NorthJersey.com. The business owners stated that the city’s construction boom allowed them to sell the building and retire.
The mattress store shares its Main Street frontage with three other commercial buildings that have closed in recent years, including a Salvadoran restaurant, Salvadoreño Santa Fe, and a computer store, Suzy Systems Inc. The former relocated to Passaic Street, while the latter has been closed since 2012.
The approved financing arrangement comes nearly three years after real estate developer Waypoint Residential opened the 235-unit Walcott Hackensack just one block south of the parcels owned by Hekemian.
The developer did not respond to a request for comment from Jersey Digs.
Although construction of the apartment project could be years away, the financial agreement represents a significant step towards revamping a block in the city that has been in disrepair for many years.
