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A massive $100 million warehouse on the site of the Marcal paper factory in Elmwood Park will open this September, developers announced Friday.

Texas-based Crow Holdings Development said construction is well underway on the 206,826-square-foot warehouse on vacant space at 1 Market St., just off Route 80.

David Knee, vice chairman at JLL's East Rutherford office, who is involved in marketing the property, said the warehouse would serve well for "food and beverage, and consumer goods."

“We like it. We think the timing works out. We’re spending some extra time and dollars on the look of the building given the historic nature of the site,” said Clark Machemer, Crow Holdings Development’s senior managing director for the Northeast region. “Obviously it won’t replace what was there.”

A tenant has yet to be identified, Machemer said.

Marcal, a major employer in the region for almost a century, saw its red-brick factory and famous neon sign obliterated in January 2019, in a blaze that required 400 firefighters from 50 North Jersey towns to quell the flames.

Marcal officials said after the fire that about 500 jobs had been lost, though the business was able to resume some manufacturing on the site in early 2020 after the coronavirus lockdown boosted demand for paper products.

Crow Holdings acquired a vacant 12-acre slice of the Marcal property and received the blessing from local officials.

Rewinding Marcal's history:Among founder's patents was one to roll up TP

“The Marcal property has been a fixture in our community for nearly a century,” Elmwood Park Mayor Robert Colletti said in a statement last year. “This new project is the next chapter in that partnership, allowing a part of their site destroyed by the fire in 2019 to be reimagined and redeveloped in a way that will benefit Elmwood Park in significant ways.”

Crow Holdings estimates that the project will generate $34 million in economic activity, $630,000 in local tax payments and 240 full-time jobs, plus 140 short-term construction jobs.

“We are thrilled to begin construction of this state-of-the-art new facility that will transform the former Marcal site into one of the region’s most advanced logistics offerings,” Machemer said Friday in a statement.

The gym was rocking all night, not just for the Ramsey Rams, the host school for the North 1, Group 2 final, and the top-seed, but for the third-seeded Elmwood Park , both teams boasting a tremendous fan base.

Although a somewhat low-scoring affair, the game was not devoid of nail-biting action, with the game still being decided by the last few possessions. In the end, it was the Ramsey who came out victorious, walking away with a 38-33 victory and repeating as the North 1, Group 2 champions.

Complete Box Score »

Defense was the primary focus for both teams at the start of the game. Ramsey (24-4) started the game off in zone, forcing Elmwood Park into a motion offense that saw them swinging the ball for nearly a minute just looking for an opening.

Elmwood Park’s (22-6) leading scorer, Essam Assaf, began to look for a way into the zone, penetrating off the kicks, but the zone collapsed quickly, forcing Elmwood Park into tough shots. With both teams, looking to set up in the half court, the first quarter ended with Ramsey leading 7-6.

The second quarter continued with the same action, but Elmwood Park started to get better looks, showing signs of being able to counter the zone. The half ended with the Rams leading 14-11.

“I told them I thought we played well enough to be up,” said Elmwood Park coach Steven Herget on what he told his team at the half. “We missed a couple of bunnies in the paint that we usually make, they [Ramsey] has alot of size that alters that, but we have drills that we do to counter that and we didnt take advantage of those situations.”

“We gave up one lead, but we told them our mantra of playing good defense, we were up on the catch, fronting their bigs, I don’t really think we did anything wrong, we just had to correct some misses around them rim,” added Herget.

Assaf heeded his coach’s words and started to get things going in the third quarter, kicking things off with a crossover into a baseline drive for a layup. However, Ramsey seemed to answer everytime. Noah Eide hit back-to-back three-pointers, making the score 20-15 Rams with 6:12 left in the third.

Despite the back and forth play, the third quarter belonged to Crusaders. Essam Assaf was able to get into the lane on the next possession and hit a floater, then hustled back to pin the ball on the glass after a turnover. The third quarter got underway with Ramsey holding a 22-21 lead, but all the momentum was with Elmwood Park.

The Crusaders kicked off the fourth with a bang, holding a 23-22 lead, its first of the game. It wouldn’t last, however, as Ramsey’s Matt Stone answered with a three-pointer, making the score 25-23.

The action continued to be back and forth. Matt Feurst would hit a layup, plus the foul to put the Rams up 28-25, but DeWayne Carter of Elmwood Park would answer with an and-one of his own, tying the game yet again, 28-28.

The difference in the game turned out to be Ramsey’s 6-foot-6 center, Logan Bahn, who came off the bench to give a big lift on defense and on the boards.

Bahn, who is also an offensive lineman, came in the game and got fouled on his many putback attempts, going 4-for-4 from the line in the clutch to help seal the game.

“I’m really proud of my guys,” said Ramsey coach Mark Christiansen, who first the well-coached opponent his team had just faced.

“Hats off to Elmwood Park and Steve [Herget], they really took us out of our game-plan today and it really made it hard for us on the offensive side,” said Christiansen. “They messed up what we do offensively, but my guys really battled through.

“We were missing a bunch of layups and free throws down the stretch, but we continued to just battle through, make stops on the defensive end and really capitalize when we needed to towards the end to seal it for us,” added Christiansen.

Bahn and Feurst led the way for the Rams with 10 points apiece, with Noah Eide adding his two big three-pointers in the third quarter, scoring eight total in the game.

Essam Assaf led the way for Elmwood Park, posting 10 points with DeWayne Carter tallying eight as well.

Ramsey heads to the NJSIAA Group 2 semifinal on Thursday at 5 PM, held at Elizabeth High School, where it will face Caldwell, the North 2, Group 2 champions.

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After decades serving deep fried hot dogs in Elmwood Park, River View East is closing Sunday.

Consistently near the top in (201) Magazine's Best of Bergen Readers' Polls and NorthJersey.com spot polls, the fast food restaurant at 455 River Drive has long been a local favorite.

Tom Decicco, the River View East owner since 1989, said Saturday that a combination of rising labor costs, inflation and rent has made the restaurant fiscally unsustainable.

More:The results are in. See the Best of Bergen Food and Drink winners for 2023

“It’s a death by a thousand cuts,” he said. “I held it as long as I could."

Rose Maresca said she has frequented the restaurant since she moved to Elmwood Park 33 years ago. From hot dogs with her son after Little League games to office lunch orders and the occasional roast beef sandwich dinner, River View East has become part of her life, she said.

“We just found out today that tomorrow’s going to be their last day,” she said. “I was surprised, a bit sad and taken aback. It’s a nice place, it really is, for a quick hot dog.”

Maresca said Saturday that she was grateful to get in one last hot dog lunch at River View East. Her sentiment was echoed by Waldwick's Donna Johnson, who said she has had a hot dog there at least once a month for the past 30 years. Johnson said going out for hot dogs at the restaurant has been a family tradition, and she has never had a bad meal at the River Drive haunt.

"We were quite upset," Johnson said of River View East's closing. "My mother has been going there for over 50 years. We don't know where we're going to go now."

Some locals took to social media to lament the loss and give best wishes to the staff.

“I am at a loss for words as I head to work for my last day,” Jeannette Cottrell posted to the Elmwood Park Deserves Community Facebook group. “Such a sad day, as we all worked as a family.”

The restaurant is a classic old-school joint with a wonderfully preserved squat 1950s building, all-booths interior and a super-long counter offering an all-American menu of burgers, subs, salads, chicken and more.

But it's best known for the Texas weiner with its Greek-style chili sauce, which former owner Michael Tsistrakis proudly told us in 2018 "is the best."

A hot dog taste team The Record/northjersey.com assembled in 2017 agreed. Two of our three judges declared River View East's the top dog. Tsistrakis said he used to sell an average 500 a day; 700 on weekend days. The Thumann's franks are, as tradition dictates, deep fried, slathered with mustard and topped with diced onions and a nicely thin chili sauce.

Our food editor, Esther Davidowitz, found that the sauce had a pleasant, slightly sour, taste. Tsistrakis told her his sauce includes some 10 spices — none that would account for the mild sour taste. "I can't tell you what's in it though," he said, explaining that there's always a chance someone might want to copy it.

Go: 455 River Drive, Elmwood Park; 201-797-9258, riverviewrest.com.

Check back for more on this developing story.

Four years after a fire tore through Marcal Paper’s former factory in Elmwood Park, vertical construction is underway on the industrial development that will rise in its place.

Crow Holdings Development recently announced it started that work on its new, 206,826-square-foot logistics hub at the 1 Market St. location, which it acquired last year in a joint venture with Atlas Holdings, Marcal‘s majority shareholder.

Texas-based Crow Holdings expects to generate $34 million in economic activity at the site along with 140 short-term jobs during the construction process.

With a scheduled delivery date of September 2023, the project is expected to support the equivalent of 240 full-time jobs, according to Crow, and produce $630,000 in property tax payments to Bergen County, the municipality and the local school district.

“We are thrilled to begin construction of this state-of-the-art new facility that will transform the former Marcal site into one of the region’s most advanced logistics offerings,” said Clark Machemer, Crow Holdings Development’s senior managing director for the Northeast region, in a statement. “1 Market St. will not only create jobs and contribute to the growth of the county’s economy, but it will also provide much-needed logistics space in one of the country’s most land-constrained markets, delivering a bright new future for the town and this historic site.”

With a design that reflects the iconic architecture of its former occupant and located 17 miles from Manhattan, the nearly 12-acre property offers immediate access to Interstates 80 and 95. According to Crow, the speculative development will feature:

JLL handled the sale of the Marcal property – where the company reopened with a smaller plant in 2020 – and serves as exclusive agent for the site. Vice Chairman David Knee, Executive Managing Director Chris Hile, Senior Vice President Ignatius Armenia and Vice President Ryan Milanaik are marketing the property among e-commerce and logistics occupiers increasingly under pressure to move goods competitively and quickly, according to the firm.

In its first quarter insights in the industrial sector for 2023, JLL reported that despite record construction activity and moderation in preleasing, vacancy rates are still constrained.

The catalyst behind that demand was new logistics space, like Crow’s project in Elmwood Park. According to JLL, in Q1 that kind of Class A product accounted for more than half of leasing activity.

“Despite macro-economic headwinds, the New Jersey industrial market remains resilient as 3PL’s, food and beverage, and consumer goods companies seek well-located, modern facilities in close proximity to the world’s major population hubs,” Knee said. “1 Market St. will reinvent a historic factory into an economic engine of the 21st century, generating jobs, contributing to the local tax base and meeting market demand for effective logistics solutions.”