From great local journalism to hawking 'luxury' apartments

UNDER CONSTRUCTION: The first of 5 apartment buildings planned for 150 River St. in Hackensack -- where The Record and North Jersey Media Group were located -- is under construction, below. The roughly 20-acre building site is between River Street and the Hackensack River. The rendering is from JLL Capital Markets.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Generations of the Borg family prospered in Hackensack for roughly 110 years operating The Record and North Jersey Media Group.

Then, Stephen A. Borg pushed aside his father, Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg, and took over as publisher in 2006.

By 2009, he had moved printing of The Record and Herald News to Rockaway, executed the largest downsizing in the once-great local daily newspaper's history, closed 150 River St. and decamped to Woodland Park.

The younger Borg also ended separate local news sections for Bergen and Passaic counties, and often news of Paterson, Wayne and other communities would dominate the single Local section.

That saved newsprint, but alienated Bergen readers and reduced circulation.

Sells out to Gannett

Then, in July 2016, he sold the family's publishing company to Gannett for nearly $40 million in cash, and laid plans to become an apartment developer, using 19.6 acres cleared of The Record's landmark headquarters and parking lots as his building site.

Now, the Borgs' Fourth Edition Inc., with a nearly $49 million construction loan and two partners, has begun work on the first of 5 buildings with a planned total of 654 units.

The first building of these so-called luxury apartments is sited roughly where The Record's executive offices were located, as well as circulation, advertising and the 4th-floor newsroom.

Think of this: 

Tenants of luxury apartments will be moving their bowels on the site of a great local daily newspaper Stephen Borg helped turn to shit.

Read: Japanese conglomerate

 is ultimate owner of The Record, (201) magazine

Read: Shit in my driveway: 

The Record was delivered to us by mistake

Read: Malcolm A. 'Mac' Borg

 settles porn-suit allegations

Borgs have returned to Hackensack as the Fourth Edition

The former headquarters of The Record at 150 River Street in Hackensack are expected to be torn down after the Borg family sell 19.7 acres to an apartment developer. The city has already designated the land for redevelopment. The old staff entrance is shown above.

The bus shelter, left, was supposed to be used by employees after smoking was banned inside the building.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

After selling North Jersey Media Group to Gannett for a reported $40 million in July, the Borg family have formed a new company and returned to Hackensack, where their flagship paper, The Record, was headquartered until 2009.

The new company, Fourth Edition, retained the pension and retirement funds, and starting this month, pension checks were issued under its name.

Little else is known about the company, including its address in Hackensack.

The Borgs still own 19.7 acres along River Street in Hackensack that are expected to fetch $20 million to $30 million when sold to an apartment developer.

The property is held by Macromedia Inc., according to city tax records.

The privately held Macromedia was set up in 1921.

Front pages

From the looks of Page 1 today and Friday, Editor Deirdre Sykes and her minions started their Labor Day weekend on Thursday.

This coming Tuesday, Sykes will be replaced by one of Gannett's super editors after only seven months in the job, and will assume what the company calls "a new leadership position in the newsroom."

Healthy eating

Readers who watch their weight and cholesterol might question why the entire Better Living cover today promotes the grilling of artery clogging food, including pork ribs, Chinese long beans with butter and chicken with sour cream (BL-1).

Meanwhile, the only healthy recipe -- for grilled catfish -- appears on BL-3.

Friday's paper

Below the fold on Friday, two stories explore attempts to right historic wrongs.

Three Korean men rode their bikes across the country to Palisades Park to "honor" women who were sexually enslaved by the Japanese army before and during World War II.

Next to that story on Friday's A-1, The Associated Press reported Georgetown University will give preference in admissions to descendants of slaves the Jesuit-run institution sold.

Keystone Kops

Thanks to all of those shopping centers, Paramus homeowners pay some of the lowest property taxes in Bergen County.

But in terms of police protection, residents are getting shafted, according to a shocking story on Friday's Local front.

Staff Writer Melanie Anzidei reports that police apparently have thrown up their hands over "a spike in residential burglaries."

On Thursday, Deputy Chief Robert M. Guidetti issued yet another "alert" to residents and gave them advice on how to protect their homes, such as locking doors and windows "when away or while sleeping."

Seventeen residential burglaries were reported since January, but 13 of them occurred between May and August.