Restaurant owner sues Hackensack NJ for attempted land expropriation

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SOUTH HACKENSACK – The owner of a strip nightclub and restaurant on Route 46 is suing the municipality to stop it from expropriating the land under the guise of redevelopment.

Anthony Giaquinto, owner of the Fat Bastard and Sons restaurant and Flamingo, a strip nightclub that has been at the site since 1962, said the municipality is targeting his and other businesses.

Giaquinto filed the lawsuit on August 2 in Bergen County Superior Court against the Town of South Hackensack, its mayor, and the committee and planning board.

The aim of the lawsuit is to annul the decision taken in June, which classifies his and other properties as “areas in need of redevelopment” with the power to expropriate them and other properties as “areas in need of redevelopment”.

“Businesses are thriving. People are working and paying their bills,” Giaquinto said of his and neighboring businesses. “I understand that they want to make everything nicer, but why don’t they go to the owners and get them to get involved instead of taking everyone by surprise and destroying the whole highway?”

Other businesses that are considered “areas in need of redevelopment” include the Stagecoach Motel and Knights Inn, as well as the Stop and Shine car wash.

The study of the area in need of redevelopment was completed in 2023 by the Neglia Group and included 16 properties totaling more than 13 acres. The area includes portions of the Route 46 corridor beginning at Phillips Avenue, South Hackensack and west along Route 46. It also includes the intersection of Phillips Avenue and Route 46 and properties on Louis Street.

The mayor and the planning board’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.

The resolution approving the redevelopment area states that the properties have “a history of property maintenance issues and a history of building code violations.” The resolution also states, “Citations for unsafe structures, zoning violations and building code violations have been issued for several properties within the redevelopment area.”

The expropriation and redevelopment of the area would also “advance the goals of the municipality’s master plan” and promote development and redesign.

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“It seems like it’s all about money and putting a big company there to crush the little people,” Giaquinto said. “These buildings aren’t empty and full of homeless people or boarded up. There has to be something else going on if my family restaurant is included but Wendy’s is left out.”

Giaquinto said the municipality has targeted Flamingos and the motels along the highway, but they are still operating and paying their taxes. He said Flamingos has operated along the highway for decades, while the city has allowed other nightclubs to open in residential neighborhoods near homes.

The municipality, Giaquinto said, allowed him to open his restaurant, Fat Bastard, last year and allowed him to obtain the permits even though he knew this would happen.

“I spent a lot of my entire savings on myself and my son and they allowed me to do this, so a year later I turn around and try to repossess the property,” he said. “Things are going well at the restaurant right now, although there are difficult times, and now I’m spending money on lawyers and having to worry about retaliation.”

He expressed hope that the lawsuit would put an end to politicians’ efforts to put an end to small family businesses and sell the land to large corporations.

“You can try to fight City Hall, but it’s scary,” Giaquinto said. “I grew up here and the city is great, but it seems like it’s all about the money.”

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