Rooftop dining overlooking Paterson's Great Falls? Here's the proposal
PATERSON — A Wyckoff-based nonprofit group wants to open a food hall and rooftop garden with outdoor dining at an industrial building across the street from the Great Falls overlook area.
Mayor Andre Sayegh is pushing the project as part of his effort to transform the Great Falls into a tourist destination where visitors would spend time and money, instead of simply a place where people stop for a few minutes to look at a waterfall.
The City Council last week gave Sayegh’s initiative its blessing by approving changes in the master plan for the Great Falls district to allow food halls and rooftop gardens.
The nonprofit group, Servant’s Heart Ministry, now can apply for Planning Board approvals to proceed with its proposed renovation of the three-story building at 39 McBride Ave., said its lawyer, Alan Mariconda.
“Paterson is a popular destination for foodies, and we are looking to leverage that,” Sayegh said. “In fact, when I took office in 2018, we rebranded Paterson as the home of the Great Falls, Great Food, and a Great Future. This project will further amplify Paterson's status as a city of gastronomy and draw more visitors to the centerpiece of our resurgence.”
Parking looms as one of the critical issues for the project. Servant Heart’s planning application said the building would use 275 parking spaces at the garage being proposed as part of the construction of a new national park visitor center at the Great Falls.
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But the visitor center and garage project has not yet secured all its funding and has been beset by delays. City officials said a recent state grant for $4 million for the visitor center may put that development on track to start construction later this year.
Sayegh said Servant Heart’s food hall plans do not need to wait for the garage to be built. Councilman Luis Velez, who represents the 5th Ward, where the Overlook area is, agreed with the mayor.
“One thing shouldn’t hold back the other,” Velez said.
John Oostdyk, Servant Heart’s executive director, said officials have assured him that the visitor center garage will be built.
“It’s going to happen, it’s just a matter of when,” Oostdyk said. “We’re going forward.”
Servant Heart — which provides training in various construction trades — currently owns the building, which city property records show is assessed at $1.88 million. The building currently houses a trade school on its first floor and offices on its second and third floors, according to city planning records.
Under Servant Heart’s proposal, the first floor would be converted to a food hall; the second floor would provide an auditorium for community groups, arts activities and church services; the third floor would have a restaurant and offices; and the new rooftop area would have the garden with outdoor dining.
Servant Heart’s planning application puts the projected cost of the renovation at $2.5 million. But Oostdyk said that number reflects the nonprofit’s group’s use of trainees as part of its labor force, keeping the expense down. He said the real cost of the work would amount to about $10 million.
Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press.
Email: editor@patersonpress.com
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Outdoor, rooftop dining at Great Falls in Paterson? Here's the plan
