Located at 204 Wagaraw Road in Hawthorne, Hedges at Hawthorne includes 117 new luxury apartments alongside a Planet Fitness and a CubeSmart self-storage facility. — All images courtesy: The Bedrin Organization
By Joshua Burd
Garret Bedrin has soaked up the feedback from the family, friends and colleagues that have toured the new 118-unit luxury apartment building known as Hedges at Hawthorne.
He’s especially proud of one comment in particular.
“When my wife finally saw it, she said, ‘I could live here’ — which to me was the ultimate compliment,” said Bedrin, a partner with The Bedrin Organization. “Someone who walks in here and says, ‘I would live here’ — that’s the nicest thing you could ever say to me.”
It was a sign of things to come for the four-story residential building, which Bedrin developed in partnership with March Construction. The property is now more than 80 percent leased after hitting the market in May, bringing an upscale offering to the Passaic County borough, under a distinctive mixed-use project that comes with a new Planet Fitness and CubeSmart self-storage facility on site.
That combination has fueled demand at Hedges at Hawthorne, which has redeveloped a former industrial site just north of the Paterson border and roughly a quarter-mile from NJ Transit rail service. Bedrin said the building, located at 204 Wagaraw Road, has attracted everyone from young professionals leaving Hudson County and Brooklyn to empty-nesters who are downsizing from homes in Wyckoff, Fair Lawn and other nearby suburbs.
“It’s a luxury product in an area where we haven’t seen this built,” Bedrin said.
The partnership broke ground on the project in May 2021, marking a milestone for a site that Bedrin’s team and local officials had sought to repurpose for some 13 years. The Glen Rock-based firm originally planned to build a 100,000-square-foot Kohl’s store after acquiring the parcel from Merck & Co., only to see the plan fall through during the financial crisis, followed by a proposed Walmart supermarket that was derailed by litigation and local opposition.
The apartments that now occupy the site have helped fulfill that vision, while providing Hawthorne with 17 units of affordable housing. Dozens of residents have moved in and are taking advantage of amenities ranging from a rooftop deck, co-working space and rentable private office suites to a coffee bar and outdoor grilling stations. The building also features an upscale tasting room with wine lockers for residents, along with a salon space that they can reserve as needed.
SLIDESHOW: Hedges at Hawthorne
“We wanted it to feel like a boutique hotel — you’ve come home, you’ve arrived somewhere special,” Bedrin said while walking through the building’s lobby, which is filled with lounge-style seating, a preserved moss wall and wood elements. “We wanted you to know that we care about health and wellness.”
Hedges also has vending and package areas, a pet spa and a fitness center that is admittedly modest in size, given residents’ access to Planet Fitness just outside their door. The gym chain is the anchor for the project’s 16,400-square-foot retail component, which also includes a new coffee and lunch shop known as Per Lei Café and a space that will be filled by a third tenant.
“It not only makes life more comfortable for the residents but also adds so much energy to the whole community vibe,” said Lou March, president of March Construction. “Having all those amenities just a short walk away — it’s perfect for anyone who likes the idea of living in a place where everything is convenient, and you can stroll around.
“Living close to mass transportation is a game-changer,” he added. “It makes commuting so much simpler. Plus, it cuts down on the need to rely on your own car all the time.”
Bedrin noted that the retail and self-storage buildings provide a buffer from a beverage distributor that’s directly west of the seven-acre property. Both components were added as part of a scaled-down apartment project after the business, Kohler Distributing Co., raised concerns that residents would be disturbed by trucks coming in and out of its facility.
The developers also used construction materials that would mitigate the noise from the warehouse and from the nearby train station, Bedrin said, while both Planet Fitness and CubeSmart have been highly additive to the collection of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments. He added that the 120,000-square-foot self-storage facility “became helpful as a leasing tool,” especially for residents who are in transition.
Bedrin also hopes to attract renters to Hedges at Hawthorne with yet another distinctive feature — namely, five live-work units that are legally zoned to be used as storefronts, with separate entrances that figure to bring additional foot traffic to the site.
In the meantime, the finished product is a source of pride for Bedrin and his family, especially for a project that was nearly 15 years in the making. He also hopes to expand the Hedges brand to future residential developments, provided the team can find the right sites.
“To me, if this is a once-in-a-lifetime, generational family asset, I’m OK with that,” Bedrin said. “If we can’t do this ever again, we did good.”
