A stretch of Route 17 North in Paramus that once drew plans for more than a thousand apartments is back in front of local officials — this time with housing explicitly off the table. The Paramus Planning Board was scheduled to review a preliminary investigation into whether Block 413, Lots 4, 5 and 6 should be designated a non-condemnation area in need of redevelopment at its Thursday, Nov. 5 meeting.
The review, as reported by Patch, covers the same parcels that Paramus HRP, LLC — described as a contract purchaser of the property — once eyed for 1,050 apartments, including some affordable units. That proposal has since been dropped from the conversation: the borough excluded it from its amended affordable-housing plan, and the Nov. 5 agenda does not indicate the apartment proposal has been revived or identify any new development project in its place.
Mayor Christopher DiPiazza confirmed the property will not become a residential complex, according to TAPinto. DiPiazza said his administration opposed the earlier residential affordable-housing plan and that the new investigation is meant to help find a revitalization plan for what he called a dilapidated eyesore at the borough's southern gateway. He added that the site should see no housing — just smart development, per the same report.
What's Actually on the Property Now
For now, the 19-acre tract is anything but idle. The site currently houses an appliance store, an auto-body shop, and outdoor parking and storage areas for trucks and tractor-trailers, TAPinto reports. It shares access via Mildred Avenue with a neighboring Coach bus depot, a detail also confirmed by Patch's reporting on the borough's redevelopment plan.
Roughly 10.54 acres of the tract are constrained by wetlands and regulatory wetland transition areas, according to TAPinto — a figure that closely tracks Patch's separate account of approximately 10.54 acres affected by wetlands and required buffer areas in the borough's plan. The constraint narrows how much of the property could realistically support new construction of any kind.
Why the Apartment Plan Collapsed
The borough's case against the earlier housing plan centers on traffic. The New Jersey Department of Transportation is undertaking a road-widening and construction project on Route 17 to alleviate congestion, and as currently designed, that road project would consume a substantial portion of the property's developable area, per TAPinto's report. Officials have said the proposed apartment project became unfeasible once that road-project footprint was factored in.
Beyond the land itself, the borough argued the inclusionary housing development would exacerbate existing traffic problems on and off the site and could obstruct broader efforts to resolve congestion on Route 17, TAPinto reports. The proposed densities, officials said, were not in line with what's permitted or sought in the borough's highway corridors and were seen as incompatible with surrounding land uses and Paramus's roadway capacity.
Congestion along that corridor is not a new concern. A separate $97 million Route 17 Bottleneck Project, with preliminary plans released in January 2023, aims to add a third travel lane, additional bridges and improvements to local streets between the Essex Street interchange in Maywood and the Garden State Plaza Mall driveway, according to Daily Voice.
A Legal Fight That Already Came and Went
The apartment proposal's path wasn't just blocked administratively — it was contested in court. Paramus HRP and the Fair Share Housing Center challenged the borough's affordable-housing plan in August 2025, and the Fair Share Housing Center's challenge was later withdrawn following a settlement agreement with the borough, TAPinto reports. Separately, Patch notes that Paramus HRP itself challenged the borough's plan and later withdrew its own challenge as well.
Under New Jersey's Local Redevelopment and Housing Law, a non-condemnation area designation allows a municipality to pursue redevelopment status without using eminent domain to acquire the land, according to TAPinto. Paramus Planning Board minutes from October 2024, concerning a separate matter, indicate that such a designation does not by itself change a property's zoning — though that record does not speak to how a designation would play out on the Route 17 site now under review.
Housing Commitments Elsewhere in Town
The Route 17 tract's removal from the housing plan comes as Paramus manages its affordable-housing obligations through other means. The borough has agreed to build about 50 additional affordable-housing units over the next decade, according to NorthJersey.com.
Thursday's meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the Council Chambers at Borough Hall, 1 Jockish Square, following an earlier discussion of the investigation at a September Planning Board meeting. The Nov. 5 agenda itself stops short of naming any successor project for the 19-acre site, leaving the appliance store, auto-body shop and truck storage in place for now while officials weigh what comes next.
