Wood-Ridge Industrial Site Rehabilitation Will Benefit Surrounding Communities

Paul Sarlo, Wood-Ridge mayor and state senator, described the former Curtiss-Wright property as a part of  Wood-Ridge many of its residents would have liked to believe wasn't part of the borough at all, let alone give it much more thought.

Something definitely needed to be done.  

Now the old large industrial site which borders Hasbrouck Heights on its south west end is finally getting a rehabilitation that is decades overdue.

Wednesday morning local, county and state officials, developers and various other community members gathered into a warehouse building on the former Curtiss-Wright site to mark the groundbreaking of the Avalon at Westmont Station project. The mixed-use development includes rentals, homes for sale and commercial space as well as providing open space for the community.

Hasbrouck Heights residents and other neighboring communities will benefit from the new train station when it is completed in 2012.  As Mayor Sarlo pointed out the borough of Wood-Ridge will be unique for having train stations on both the east side near Moonachie which has been there for many years, and now on its west side.

“The new train station which I was proud to deliver federal money which helped bring it to reality will be of great value not only to Wood-Ridge residents but to their neighbors in surrounding communities,” Congressman Steve Rothman, District 9 told Patch.  Rothman was able to get $1.2 million in seed money to help the project get off the ground. Rothman added that the project also brings much-needed construction jobs and other employment opportunities to the area as well.

The 70-acres of property which stretches east to west along Passaic and Terhune Avenue also bordering Lodi, and stretches north and south down to Lincoln Avenue in Hasbrouck Heights has been in much of need of rehabilitation for decades. Sarlo said Curtiss-Wright, the old aeroplane manufacturer, began downsizing shortly after the Korean War ended and was most likely completely off the property by the mid 1980s. The property has continued to sit underdeveloped and under used ever since. Sarlo called it an “economic drain.”

Sarlo said he was proud to have seen his little town of Wood-Ridge mentioned in the Wall-Street Journal which stated that the borough is “on the right track” with this project.

“Large-scale development, especially of a former industrial area, in this economy is not an easy endeavor. To get to this point we had to work together constructively, involve the community at every level and stay focused on the ultimate goal,” stated Sarlo.

It took about 10 years of work to get the project together. Master developer Somerset Development, a residential and commercial developer based in Lakewood, started the project and later Avalon, a real estate investment trust company with various luxury apartment communities in the Bergen County area  joined in.

The development includes 406 one, two and three bedroom apartment homes within four luxury four-and-five-story buildings. Amenities in the community will include a clubhouse, fitness center, barbecue grill area, outdoor pool and five-story parking garage. The ground floor of these buildings will be home to retail shops and restaurants. Eight acres of the property will become playing field space – homes to a running track, soccer and baseball  fields as well as six acres of open space.