A proposal to bring a six-story apartment complex to an undeveloped site next to Saint Joseph’s Medical Center in South Paterson recently moved forward after the city’s planning board voted to okay a site plan for the project.
Meeting materials from the board’s special meeting on April 29 say that 770 Main Street, LLC, a limited-liability firm based in the city, intends to deliver 54 units across six stories at a 0.67-acre site at 770-780 Main Street. The first three stories of the building will consist of parking for up to 133 vehicles, including 21 stalls for electric vehicles and 6 accessible stalls. All 54 apartments will be located between the fourth and sixth floors, and each floor will include 13 two-bedroom apartments and 5 one-bedroom units.
The board approved a plan that includes a first-floor lobby, a package room, mailboxes, and building infrastructure, while the second and third floors will feature two exercise rooms totaling approximately 500 square feet. The LLC also plans to add an uncovered terrace on the fourth floor that will only be available to four of the residential units on that floor, and a 14,385-square-foot rooftop amenity space.
Although Paterson officials have made neither the application materials nor the board’s decision available online, Jersey Digs confirmed that the board approved the site plan at the end of April.
Property records from the Passaic County Clerk’s office show that the firm has owned parcels since 2022. The firm purchased the site, which is three separate plots, from an investment fund owned by Morristown-based real estate developer The Hampshire Cos., for approximately $1.6 million. The deed transfer is dated December 2021, which was 10 years after Hampshire purchased the majority of the site. Hampshire acquired one additional parcel from the New Jersey Transit Corporation in July 2015.
The Passaic County Tax Board says the assemblage has an assessed value of over $1.4 million, despite the sites having been empty for at least 12 years.
Documents from the city’s planning board show that a redevelopment plan for the parcels was presented to the council and the board in September 2014, but it is unclear whether city officials actually voted on the legislation. The city’s own meeting minutes and agendas for September 2014 do not show how the planning board voted, but the planning board’s September 17 agenda lists the redevelopment plan as the first item for review.
The city’s own website does not list any meeting minutes from any city agencies or council for that year.
Despite the city’s lack of transparency about the votes, the parcel remains highly prominent due to its size and location. The 651-bed St. Joseph’s University Medical Center, which was founded by the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth in 1867 and is the city’s first hospital, is located across the street from the site. There are also two interchanges connecting the city to I-80 and N.J. Route 19, just a few blocks away, and the Paterson train station is located less than 1.25 miles away from the site.
Although the planning board’s approval represents a significant step forward, it is worth noting that the area around the medical center has been plagued by several false starts and failed projects. A report in The Record from June 2016 says that Medical Missions for Children, a non-profit group based in the hospital, once intended to erect a 14-story hotel and conference center in the area.
However, the hospital cited financial uncertainty when it decided to withdraw from the project just weeks after the city council granted preliminary approval for a tax break. That report also says that the non-profit had already invested $20 million in planning and that Trenton had agreed to provide a $105 million tax credit.
An AP report from October 2016 says that Medical Missions for Children filed a $400 million lawsuit against the hospital after the hotel deal collapsed. The hospital settled that lawsuit in 2021, according to another report in The Record.
