PATERSON – For as long as architect Matthew Evans can remember, the city of Paterson has been an unusual city in the evenings.
Now, city officials hope the six-story, glass-and-brick apartment building Evans designed for prominent developer Charles Florio at 120-134 Main Street can help revitalize Paterson’s business district.
“When you have people living in the city, shopping in the city, and you get the opportunity to live at night like you had years ago,” said Gianfranco Archimede, director of the Office of Historic Preservation.
The 72-unit apartment building will reportedly open early next year at one of the city’s most important intersections.
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“Main and Broadway was the place to be,” Evans said.
The Rivoli Theater, an 1,800-seat theater built in the 1920s, once stood on the corner where the Florio development is being built. At the time, Paterson’s nightlife was lively, with opera houses, theaters and vaudeville stages.
But in the 1950s, the Rivoli was closed, just as mid-century bridge disease was beginning to creep into urban centers across the country. The Rivoli sat empty until it burned down in 1972 and was replaced by a one-story storefront building, which coincidentally belonged to Evans’ father.
Evans believes the current project marks a major shift in the city’s future as local government embraces a new philosophy on urban planning.
Until 2009, City Hall did not allow mixed-use development in the city. In fact, tax laws encouraged property owners not to use the upper floors, which made the neighbors feel lifeless. A walk down Main Street reveals that several buildings still have their brick and stucco windows.
“All the upper floors were abandoned or closed, because there was a law in Paterson that you shouldn’t pay taxes on them,” said Evans. “Now, the perception is different – over time people understood that you can activate a city by getting people to live and work and shop there.”
Zoning laws have changed to encourage the use of older buildings
Archimede said zoning laws changed in 2009 to encourage the reuse of historic buildings, some of which date back to the mid-19th century.
Alma Realty was perhaps the first major developer to respond to zoning changes in the city’s historic district. A Queens-based real estate firm several years ago renovated two vacant 1920s-era buildings on Church Street — the former Fabian Theater and former Alexander Hamilton hotel — and created 178 apartments.
Those rooms are fully occupied, according to Alma in Paterson director Ruben Gomez.
Gomez, Paterson’s former economic development director, said the Americans with Disabilities Act requirements are one of the reasons why the upper floors of some downtown buildings remain empty. . He said property owners do not want to pay the price of installing an elevator.
“It’s about $100,000 and you don’t get anything out of it except for people to take the elevator up,” Gomez said.
Although urban renewal and blight have destroyed the downtowns of many American cities, a large part of downtown Paterson has been preserved thanks to the city’s designation as a historic district listed on the National Register in 1999, which protects the buildings. old as 1850 demolished.
Buildings were demolished for a highway that was never built
Paterson’s shopping center often extended north of the Passaic River. But more than 15 years ago, many large areas were destroyed for what would become a highway, a road that was never built.
The scars of a defunct freeway plan are always the same as the over-abandoned areas on the waterfront.
That’s why Evans thinks Florio’s new project is so important. He said it has the potential to “power” further development.
Florio, since moving his firm to Paterson in 2010, has been buying houses and buildings in the city’s 4th, 1st and 5th wards and building market-rate apartments in areas where real estate agents swear by housing. the new ones will not work.
“When people say you can’t build market-rate apartments, I say why?” Florio said. I’m either going to be a crazy smart guy who sees 50 years ahead or a guy who’s completely stupid – there’s no in between.
In addition to the 120-134 Main Street project, Florio is completing a 138-unit building on the site of the old Paterson Armory, a 206-unit building on Fair Street, a 10-story luxury building on Hamilton Avenue, and renovating vintage store Greenbaum Interiors.
Florio admits he has a tendency to exaggerate when talking about Paterson’s abilities. But how can you blame him? He watched his family’s firm, Anthony Real Estate, which opened in Jersey City in the 1970s, ride the Gold Coast’s tsunami of gentrification.
‘Paterson is changing’
When it comes to Paterson, Florio says the best indicator of a city’s potential is population growth over the past 10 years. That’s why he believes flooding the local market with new homes is a safe bet.
“Paterson is changing — because five, 10 years ago nobody wanted to buy a house on Godwin Avenue,” Floyd said. “It’s happening now.”
Florio’s efforts to build market-rate and luxury housing in one of the state’s most impoverished cities has invited accusations that he is a strongman, as the Paterson Press previously reported. But he underestimates his opponents.
“I buy vacant lots, vacant houses, and vacant buildings — I’ve never moved a single resident,” Florio said, pointing to a former Greenbaum building he’s converting to apartments. “Have I left one cheap unit? It was a furniture store and warehouse.”
When it comes to the future of Paterson, Florio said he believes that due to the increase in tourism in Great Falls, visitors will soon realize that the city is more than the “bad press” they read about.
“If we had the rates and jobs of 2021, I would say in 10 years it would be a completely different city,” Florio said.
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