Paterson Parking Authority must pay $499K
Judge rules it is owed to Center City Mall owners
PATERSON – In a court battle that could affect several high-profile city development projects, a judge has ordered the Paterson Parking Authority to pay $499,000 to the owners of Center City Mall.
The payment is supposed to cover net revenue from the parking garage under the mall, money a Superior Court judge said the city authority owes the shopping center developers for the years 2019 through 2023.
The judge’s order, which was issued Friday, directed the parking authority and mall owners to revise their contract for the garage within the next 30 days, leaving open the possibility that the litigation will continue.
At stake is the future of the downtown mall, which has struggled with numerous vacant store spaces ever since it opened 15 years ago.
Beyond the mall itself, the lawsuit’s outcome could affect the parking authority’s finances and, by extension, the city agency’s role in two of Mayor Andre Sayegh top-priority projects: the construction of a visitor center at the Great Falls and a transit hub redevelopment across the street from the Paterson train station.
The parking authority is supposed to build garages for both the Great Falls and train station initiatives.
But the city agency needed an extra $4 million for the financing of the Great Falls garage – money that was provided by the city and state governments. That project still doesn’t have all its funding and was bailed out in 2022 when the state Legislature extended its financing deadlines to June 30, 2026.
Meanwhile, the parking authority finished demolition of the original train station garage several months ago but has not started work on the new parking deck.
Sayegh did not respond to a message last week seeking his comments on the status of the litigation between Alma Realty, the mall owners, and the Paterson Parking Authority.
In their lawsuit, the mall developers asked the court to force the parking authority to delay building the train station garage until after it constructed parking for new mall development. The judge’s order last week addressed only the finances for the existing garage, without mentioning the train station project.
What do mall, city officials say?
Neither side has been willing to discuss the details of the judge’s order.
Ekaterina Valiotis, a top official at Alma Realty, said the decision represented a victory for the mall and would provide additional revenue to help Center City. She said the mall developers have always tried to work with the parking authority.
“In this case, we are anything but the big bad developers,” Valiotis said.
She asserted that Alma has tried different ways to make the mall more vibrant.
In particular, she cited plans unveiled five years ago to build a hotel and indoor soccer arena at the mall. The hotel and arena proposal died after Sayegh rejected Alma’s request for state tax credits for the project.
“It’s just a shame,” Valiotis said.
“We’ve always been good partners and were willing to pivot and try something different.”
Parking authority Executive Director Tony Perez issued a statement last week saying the agency was reviewing the judge’s decision and considering further legal options.
Perez said the mall project was “designed to spur sustainable downtown revitalization.”
But he acknowledged that the project fell short of those goals.
“It is clear that the projections and assumptions that initially made this project viable never actually materialized,” Perez said. “The vacancy rate and turnover of leases at the Center City Mall has always been a challenge for this project.”
Perez’s statement noted that the judge’s order did not address the parking authority’s plans for the train station garage.
He said his agency would “remain one of Paterson’s lead vehicles for downtown and city-wide redevelopment and revitalization.”
Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press.
Email: editor@patersonpress.com