Proposals for restaurants near Great Falls advance
Planning Board approves $10 million development
PATERSON — Two separate efforts to open restaurants at the Great Falls national park moved forward this week.
The Paterson Planning Board on Monday approved a $10 million project that would include a food hall and rooftop restaurant at an industrial building on the McBride Avenue Extension, across the street from the park’s Overlook section.
Then, on Tuesday, the City Council voted to move ahead with the stalled auction of the Libby’s Lunch property at the Great Falls, where officials expect to see the new owners open a restaurant of their own.
Since Libby’s closed in 2020, the only place to sit down for a meal at the Great Falls has been the Burger King about a block away from the Overlook area. Mayor Andre Sayegh repeatedly has said he would like to transform the Great Falls into a tourist destination that provides visitors with other activities besides gazing at the waterfall.
The food hall and rooftop dining project are being handled by the Servant’s Heart Ministry nonprofit group, which also plans to include a culinary arts training program and an auditorium for community events at the site.
John Oostdyk, executive director of Servant’s Heart, said he wants to start construction this year. The project still needs approval from Paterson’s Historic Preservation Commission, he said.
“Progress is a process. With yesterday’s vote to proceed with the auction, we mark yet another step forward in our continuous endeavor to revitalize our city for the benefit of all residents.”
Habib Kader
Paterson mayor Andre Sayegh’s chief of staff
The dining hall and rooftop restaurant initiative faces one significant challenge: It’s planning to use for patron parking the garage that has been proposed for construction across the street as part of the Great Falls visitor center, but the new parking garage has not yet secured all the funding its developers need.
Oostdyk said he is hoping the garage plans move ahead soon so construction on the parking and the food hall could take place simultaneously.
“That would be ideal,” he said.
‘Progress is a process’
Visitor center advocates once expressed hopes their project would be finished in 2021. But three years later, not all the details have been worked out.
Meanwhile, the council’s vote Tuesday puts the city in position to hold an auction for the sale of the Libby’s Lunch site by the end of April, said Paterson Economic Development Director Tiffany Harris-Delaney.
A recent appraisal put the value of the city-owned Libby’s property at $350,000, Harris-Delany said during Tuesday’s council meeting. She said the city is hoping to get between $750,000 and $1 million for the land.
Councilman Michael Jackson voted against the Libby’s sale. He and others have argued that Paterson should lease the site to a restaurant developer.
“This is an asset we don’t want to give away,” Jackson said.
Last July, the council voted to hire Max Spann, a property auction firm, to handle the Libby’s sale. Sayegh did not respond when asked for an explanation of the delay in moving forward with the auction.
“Progress is a process,” said the mayor’s chief of staff, Habib Kader. “With yesterday’s vote to proceed with the auction, we mark yet another step forward in our continuous endeavor to revitalize our city for the benefit of all residents.”