The North Bergen Board of Commissioners have adopted an ordinance that grants a tax abatement to a redeveloper for a high-rise near the Hudson River waterfront.
The board voted unanimously to approve a 30-year payments-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) agreement between the township and 7711-7815 River Road Associates, LLC. The lots are currently vacant, sitting near the border of North Bergen in Hudson County and Edgewater in Bergen County.
Chief Financial Officer Robert Pittfield described the terms of the agreement to the Hudson Reporter. According to Pittfield, the redeveloper will pay the township $570,000 for years one to 10, starting after the project is completed. Then, the payments will increase to $630,000 for years 11 to 15, then to $660,000 for years 16 to 20. For years 21 to 25, the payments to the township will increase again to $695,000 and then again to $730,000 for years 26 to 30.
During the preliminary construction stage, through the issuance of the certificate of occupancy, the township will receive $110,000 in 2022, $100,000 in 2023, and $285,000 in 2024, Pittfield said.
12-story mixed-use building
Pittfield said the financial agreement supports a planned 12-story mixed-use residential and commercial building at 7711, 7801, and 7809 River Road. The redevelopment will be home to 133 residential units, 161 off-street parking spaces, and 3,000 square feet of commercial space. Two levels will consist of the parking garage and the other 10 will consist of the residential units.
Of the 130 units, 129 will be one-bedroom units with a den, three will be one-bedroom guest suites, and one will be a “one-bedroom super unit.” Amenities in the building will include a pool and health club on the mezzanine level.
The application to construct the building on the site was approved by the North Bergen Zoning Board of Adjustment on Aug. 18, 2021. Prior to that, the site had been considered for a six-story building for the sale, storage, and servicing of classic cars in 2016, by the same redeveloper. But before that, in 2011 the land was owned by the township, which was then considering residential units on the property before selling the property to its current owner in 2012.
In recent years, the surrounding area has been hit with a wave of redevelopment. Previously undeveloped land in the area was transformed with the construction of buildings like the Duchess at 7601 River Road at the Solaia, just off of River Road at 8701 Churchill Road.
Of the those two buildings, North Bergen has a PILOT agreement with the owners of the Duchess, which brought in $1,351,000 to the township last year according to the 2021 budget. This PILOT will join the roughly dozen or so the township currently has bringing in revenue.
According to Pittfield, construction is expected to start on the building this spring.
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