Plans for $40-Mil Mixed-Use Complex Unveiled

CLIFFSIDE PARK, NJ-The details are a little sketchy, but city officials have taken the wraps off a proposed downtown mixed-use complex aimed at spurring a larger redevelopment effort in this Bergen County community. The proposed Towne Center, based on a plan developed by consultants Burgis Associates of Westwood, NJ, would cost an estimated $40 million to build.

The designated developer for the project is Towne Center Associates, a partnership headed by Frank Raimondo of C. Raimondo and Sons Construction, Fort Lee, NJ, and Fred Daibes, who heads the Edgewater, NJ-based Assad Daibes & Sons. The plan sketched out by city officials includes a retail complex centered around a public plaza, two floors of office tenants, 220 rental apartments and underground parking.

One issue is assembly of the site, much of which is in the hands of several private owners. According to city attorney Christos Diktas, a bond issue would finance acquisition of the site, which the city would lease to the developers for a 100-year term. Towne Center Associates would be expected to separately finance the project’s development.

A planning board meeting is scheduled for mid-January to outline site assembly issues, including possible use of condemnation powers to accomplish it.