The dynamic re-development of Hackensack was a hot topic at this month’s meeting of the Northern New Jersey Mastermind Group.

Nearly $1B of investment capital is transforming the downtown area of the seat of Bergen County. Member Jonathan Kristofich, associate director of capital markets at NAI James E. Hanson, painted an exciting picture of redevelopment of the city of Hackensack that includes:

• A $750M expansion of the Hackensack Hospital Medical Center
• A transformation of the city’s downtown area into an exciting, revitalized urban center that will draw new businesses, residents and income
• 30 projects already in play in the Hackensack Redevelopment Zone for both multifamily and commercial use include a 14-story office and residential tower, new restaurants, two new banks, two self-storage projects and new retail
• 644 new apartment units and 40,000 square feet of commercial space are already completed
• The downtown area will ultimately see 4,700 new apartment units and nearly 366,000 square feet of new commercial space
• Other planned additions: a rock-climbing training facility and a recycling plant to be located near the Essex train station
• Bonus: the NJ State Assembly is working on granting liquor license approval for wine and beer within the downtown district – a first in the dry county of Bergen