Page 16 - RENJ June 2021

14 JUNE 2021
AT LONG LAST
Hawthorne redevelopment with apartments, self-storage underway after more than a decade
Garret Bedrin invoked two adages that are undoubtedly common but all too fitting for
his family’s efforts in Hawthorne, the site of a redevelopment plan 13 years in the making.
“I’m constantly reminded that Rome wasn’t built in a day and that patience is a virtue,” said Bedrin, a partner with the Bedrin Organization, during a recent groundbreaking ceremony for
a project that will bring new apartments, a self-storage facility and a national fitness chain to the Passaic County borough. His family’s patience is now being rewarded,
he added, but only with the help of local officials who stayed engaged as the plan continued to evolve.
“You just can’t do a project like this,
of this scale and scope, without the support of the community,” Bedrin said. “And you have to take
Such is the hope for a project that could be delivered as soon as late summer 2022 and transform the borough’s largest undeveloped parcel. Bedrin, which is partnering with March Associates Construction, is repurposing the former chemical plant site at 204 Wagaraw Road, where plans call for 118 luxury apartments, 120,000 square feet
of self-storage space and a retail section anchored by Planet Fitness, all within a quarter-mile of NJ Transit rail service.
The groundbreaking comes 13 years after Bedrin purchased the nearly nine-acre tract from Merck & Co., which had owned the property through a corporate acquisition
and completed an extensive environmental cleanup. The Glen Rock-based firm initially planned to
build a 100,000-square-foot Kohl’s store at the site, only to see the plan evaporate during the recession, followed by a proposed Walmart supermarket that was scuttled in 2013 amid litigation and fierce local opposition.
“This has just gone through the ringer,” said Bedrin, a third- generation member of the Bedrin Organization. He also pointed to a version of the project that had more apartments with less retail space, but said the firm worked with local officials to scale that down.
“We got back together and started thinking about what else is out there,” he said. “I never wanted to give up
on the idea of the transit-oriented part because, even though we’re not designated technically by the state,
Garret Bedrin
a partnership approach. It’s not about what just the Bedrins want. It’s about what’s right for the community, and I think we’re all really satisfied with
how this came together as a mixed- use asset that is transit-oriented and that’s just an incredible project.
“So we thank the community
for helping us deliver what will promise to be a best-in-class asset for everyone to be proud to say, ‘Welcome to Hawthorne.’ ”
By Joshua Burd
Leaders of the Bedrin Organization and March Associates Construction joined local officials and other team members on May 27 to break ground on a new mixed-use project at 204 Wagaraw Road in Hawthorne.
Courtesy: Briana Samman/March Associates