MAHWAH — The plan to redevelop the former Sheraton Crossroads hotel site has been amended to allow for more than twice the previously approved square footage of new buildings.
The township council approved the amendments that increased its buildings' potential maximum square footage from 1.7 million to 4 million square feet on the 140 acres of land at the intersection of routes 17, 87 and 287.
The 250-foot-tall, 25-story Sheraton Crossroads hotel, which closed for good in December 2023 and slated to be demolished, replaced the Ford Motor plant in 1987. Zoning remains in place to allow tall buildings to be built on at least part of the site.
The amended increased square footage plan is significant. By way of comparison, the Ford Motor plant, which was the largest auto processing facility in the U.S. at the time, from 1955 to 1980, had a total of 4.7 million square feet on 172 acres. The One World Trade Center building is 3.5 million square feet.
Some of the changes had been approved as "not inconsistent" with the master plan by the planning board in June, including the "options" to increase building heights from two stories at 55 feet to five stories at 125 feet, a 40-foot-tall, three-story garage and a 55-foot two-story limit to other buildings on the site.
The amended proposal was the subject of a 90-minute presentation by the township's planner Darlene Green and a discussion during a recent council remote work session. Crossroads is not identified by name in the agenda, but can be viewed under the "presentation" section of the meeting's video on the township's website.
"Last week there were some additional requested changes," Green said. "What you have in front of you tonight is the version that I shared with the planning board, but any changes that have been made since the planning board presentation are highlighted in yellow."
Changes since the planning board hearing included the addition of "data center" and "fulfillment center" as permitted uses, parking garages as permitted accessory use and 8-foot tall security fencing. However, the change that invited the most discussion was expanding the definition of the 1.7-million-square-foot maximum as a "ground floor limit."
Board members Ward Donigian and Janet Ariemma argued that by that definition a five-story building could theoretically total 8.5 million square feet.
"I think the zoning stinks," Donigian said. "I think it exposes the town to a disaster. You don't want any dirty laundry, and dirty laundry is there."
Councilman David May downplayed the importance of the amendments, arguing that building height did not necessarily increase parking demands, possibly housing tall machinery rather than floors of processing activity.
"At the planning board meeting they brought up the notion that since the building's taller, that creates more traffic," May said. "I don't think there's going to be loading docks on the second through fifth stories, so I don't think it would add traffic."
Donigian argued that during his 22 years on the planning board "there have been variances on parking all the time," and that New York City logistic centers include indoor multi-story truck ramps that could mask the site's true traffic flow.
Green emphasized the change was self-limiting, as the site is not fully developable with "environmental encumbrances" and that the estimated 14,000 parking spaces required for such square footage would consume 141 acres at ground level, at least 47 acres if contained in three-story garages.
In response to concerns about traffic, May said the warehouse proposal generated a letter of "no interest" from the state Department of Transportation, and that the state maintained jurisdiction over any changes required to the area's highways to accommodate whatever site plan is proposed.
The debate was ended when township attorney Fred Semrau announced he had called the developer and that a cap of 4 million square feet on building size was acceptable.
Donigian and Ariemma voted against approval.
The different proposals for the Sheraton Crossroads site
The property has gone through a series of development proposals to fill out the sprawling open space surrounding the hotel, first as an office park and later as a combination residential site and shopping mall. In 2018, the property was designated as the location for 800 multi-housing units, 120 affordable, as part of the township's fair share housing settlement.
The township considered it a win in December 2023 when it negotiated a change in the affordable housing designation with the Fair Share Housing Council. It first reduced the housing on the Crossroads site to 74 affordable units, then moved the units to a new location on Mark Twain Way. The Crossroads site was approved for two warehouses totaling 1.7 million square feet.
The developer has yet to submit a site plan proposal. The subsequent proposals have been aimed at maximizing the owners' options in a changing real estate environment.
