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Major commercial chains Lowe's Home Improvement and Target are flourishing in locations that were once home to vacant warehouses and office facilities. A Home Depot will be open for business in February.
And last week, major shopping chain National Wholesale Liquidators opened its doors in the township after a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new location in the Tonnelle Plaza shopping center, owned and operated by Hartz Mountain Industries.
The company's website describes its stores thusly: "If you like saving money, National Wholesale Liquidators is your place to shop for major discounts on all types of gifts, toys, electronics, houseware and, of course, everything else you need for your home. From toothpaste to television sets, vitamins to vacuum cleaners. We carry everything you need for your home at heavily discounted and wholesale prices."
"It's all part of the complete re-vitalization of Tonnelle Avenue," said North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco, who attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony at NWL. "It's all good for the area. We're bringing big business back to North Bergen."
$70M shopping center will replace pool
That area of North Bergen is building up, but it wasn't always that way.
In the 1990s, the township officials designated the area as being in "dire need of redevelopment."
Since that time, the old and vacant Crown Cork and Seal factory became Target, and the vacated headquarters for Evan Picone was turned into the Lowe's Home Improvement Center.
Now, a former swimming pool there, which was closed because of land contamination, is going to become a $70 million shopping center.
Preliminary construction has begun by Vornado Realty Trust on a major shopping center, which will be located at the former site of the township's municipal swimming pool. When completed, the shopping center is expected to bring national chains like Wal-Mart, Costco, Staples, Pet Smart, Sleepy's, and Applebee's to northern North Bergen.
$3M in improvements
Development company Hartz Mountain helped by spending more than $3 million in general improvements to Tonnelle Plaza to encourage businesses like National Wholesale Liquidators.
"We were looking forward to having a good working relationship with Hartz Mountain," said National Wholesale Liquidators Director of Real Estate Robert Kwiatkowski. "We're very excited to be in North Bergen. We had been scouting northern New Jersey for a while."
Kwiatkowski said that the response from customers has been favorable since the store opened two weeks ago.
"We're very happy with the response," Kwiatkowski said. "It's going to be a good location for us. You see the changes occurring in the area and you have to be encouraged."
State funds helped area
Sacco believes the reason for the rebirth stems from two important pieces of legislation that he helped to support and adopt as the state senator representing the 33rd District.
One was the formation of the Urban Enterprise Zones in the state. North Bergen was able to receive the designation a few years ago. That meant that customers shopping in the zone could pay only 3 percent sales tax, and the tax money could be fed back into area improvements.
For businesses, the idea of collecting a 3 percent sales tax on a heavily traveled state highway like Tonnelle Avenue/State Highway Routes 1 and 9 made the location appealing to commercial developers.
"The UEZ began it all," said North Bergen Township Administrator Chris Pianese. "People want to come to this area and shop and save money. It's worthwhile for the developers to invest money into the area. Now, we're able to take the money that we get from UEZ and put it back into helping the area's roads and infrastructure."
The other reason for the major commercial upgrade is the state's Department of Transportation's commitment to improve Tonnelle Avenue. The heavily traveled thoroughfare is in the process of being widened and there will be several left-turn only lanes to enable traffic to gain access to the various shopping areas along the road.
$150M in taxes
So just how big will business eventually be in North Bergen?
"We anticipate ratables in excess of $150 million when it's all completed," Pianese said. "Not to mention the hundreds of jobs that the area has provided for our residents. It's going to be very different in the town over the next couple of years."
It seems that the transformation has already begun.
"You see the changes occurring in the area and you have to be encouraged." - Robert Kwiatkowski
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