The 1.3-acre site that was once home to the now-closed 24-hour Coach House Diner in Hackensack was recently sold to a car wash company, closing the chapter for a restaurant that has been a staple in the community for over four decades.
The restaurant located at 55 U.S. Route 4 shuttered its doors for the last time on April 15, according to a report in NorthJersey.com. It was one of the last 24-hour diners left in North Jersey, including the Parkway Diner in Elmwood Park, the Land & Sea Restaurant in Fair Lawn, Chit Chat Diner in Hackensack, and State Line Diner in Mahwah.
Coach House Diner was opened by the Pappas family in 1981. It replaced Holly’s ice cream parlor, known for its neon sign featuring a chicken running into a basket. The ice cream parlor burned down in the early 1980s, and according to records from the Bergen County Board of Taxation, the new building was built in 1982.
The Pappas family bought it at a Sheriff’s sale in April 1981, according to county property records. The parcel has an assessed value of $3 million as of 2026.
Real estate firm J.C. Kapas Real Estate Company brokered the transaction, which transferred ownership of the site from the Pappas family to El Car Wash around April 18. The sale included the 6,700-square-foot restaurant building and the transfer of ownership of the restaurant’s retail consumption liquor license, according to a report in NJ.com.
The property sits at a key intersection for everyday traffic, retail, and entertainment in the city. It has a direct exit to U.S. Route 4 and is located across the highway from The Shops at Riverside, an upscale mall that spans 658,000 square feet, and the 275,000-square-foot Hackensack Commons shopping center. There is a Chick-Fil-A next to the site, and Bergen County Academies and Fairleigh Dickinson University are less than a mile away. The site is also roughly 5 miles from the George Washington Bridge.
The NJ.com report said that El Car Wash intends to redevelop the site, which will likely entail tearing down the restaurant building. The car wash service company, founded in Miami in 2011, offers a membership plan for unlimited car washes. It has over 85 locations in Florida, largely along the western side between Miami and West Palm Beach, as well as the Orlando and Fort Myers.
While the city of Hackensack has seen substantial growth in recent years from a boom in apartment construction, the city’s food & beverage industry has had a tumultuous time post-COVID. Newcomers to the city, such as Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii and Cap’s on Main (which rebranded from Capital Diner), and even local favorites like Late Nite Hackensack Pizza & Steak and Kinyobi have recently closed as rents and density have risen across the city.
Restaurant turnover in the city has been pretty spread out across neighborhoods, and includes sites in the heart of downtown, uptown and even in residential neighborhoods. The bar that became the Whiskey Priest in May 2025 was home to Aura, which struggled to find its footing before it was shuttered. That site is down the street from the site of Cigarro Bar and Lounge at 91 Main Street, which was home to Koala Lounge for about 6 years. Cigarro opened on April 10. Local brewery Alementary also closed in April 2024 after more than 8 years in operation.
