Hackensack Honored With Award for Downtown Renaissance

HACKENSACK, NJ, April 19, 2014 (Press-News.org) On Thursday, June 5, New Jersey Future will honor the Upper Main Alliance along with the City of Hackensack and DMR Architects with a 2014 Smart Growth Award.

The Upper Main Alliance is being honored for its part in the creation of the Downtown Rehabilitation Plan for the City of Hackensack. The Rehabilitation Plan includes design regulations and flexible zoning that foster a revitalized downtown.

This award comes at a time when Hackensack, specifically its downtown, is undergoing an economic and cultural renaissance, transforming into a walkable, livable, sustainable community. The ultimate goal of the Rehabilitation Plan is to strengthen and empower existing businesses and provide new opportunities for mixed-use development, thus returning Hackensack to its former status as the cultural and economic heart of Bergen County.

"We are thrilled to be recognized by New Jersey Future," said Jerome J. Lombardo, Chairman of the Upper Main Alliance and local businessman. "The Rehabilitation Plan for Hackensack's downtown has taken several years to put into place, and The Smart Growth Award reaffirms the vision that the Upper Main Alliance has for Hackensack's Main Street. This award validates our belief that Hackensack has a perfect mix of location, density, access to transit, diversity and history to make Main Street a livable downtown that provides easy access to destination stores, lots of restaurants, coffee Shoppe's and even entertainment venues."

The newly created Rehabilitation Plan utilizes some of today's most advanced downtown planning techniques, along with state of the art relaxed zoning laws. This has primed Hackensack's Main Street to become a destination for construction of new apartments and residences. In addition, initiatives such as the Hackensack Main Street smartphone app (the first of its kind in New Jersey) create a downtown-lifestyle desired by many today.

Since 2002, New Jersey Future has honored more than 80 projects with Smart Growth Awards. Winners are selected from a statewide public nomination process by an independent jury of professional developers, architects, planners and redevelopment experts. This year The Downtown Rehabilitation Plan for Hackensack is one of only two downtowns being honored.

About the Upper Main Alliance (www.uppermain.org):

The Hackensack Main Street Business Alliance (MSBA), created in 2004, is a public private partnership formed as an alliance between the business community and the City of Hackensack. The mission of the MSBA is to address the issues facing the business community with the goal of improving the local economy and the overall business climate in Hackensack.

We provide: Clean and Green Programs, Marketing/Special Events, Visual Improvement/Façade and Signage Grant Programs, Vehicle and Pedestrian Circulation/Parking, Commercial Retention and Recruitment.

Also known as the Upper Main Alliance, the MSBA extends along Main Street from Atlantic Street to Clinton Place. There are 153 commercial properties and over 400 businesses within the district.