Channel 9 Building In Secaucus Being Torn Down For Hartz

SECAUCUS, NJ — Secaucus residents: Be prepared this summer to see some major demolition along Meadowlands Parkway.

The former Channel 9 ("My 9"/WWOR-TV) headquarters on Meadowlands Parkway is scheduled to be torn down and Hartz Mountain will be relocating their headquarters into the lot, said Secaucus Mayor Mike Gonnelli.

Channel 9 is owned by FOX/News Corp. Hartz used to own the land where Channel 9 sits, and FOX bought the property from Hartz decades ago. Last year, Hartz purchased the land back from FOX for $4.05 million.

Channel 9 hasn't broadcast from there in months; they are now mostly broadcasting from New York City. The building has sat vacant for more than a year now, and a peek inside the lobby shows it abandoned.

Hartz will be tearing down the existing building and building an entirely new office complex at the site. However, the footprint will remain the same, Gonnelli said, so the new building that will go there won't be noticeably bigger in size. According to him, some of the demolition has already begun, with several of Channel 9's satellite dishes along the Hackensack River already taken down.

U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (Democrat) has long been critical of Channel 9 for not fulfilling its FCC mandate to provide North Jersey coverage, as they were required to do since they broadcast out of North Jersey. The only news show Channel 9 broadcasts is "Chasing News," a tabloid-style New Jersey news show hosted by conservative NJ 101.5 host Bill Spadea.

WWOR-TV is the only broadcast station licensed to New Jersey.

Hartz is a major developer that helped make Secaucus what it is today: They are the developers who own Harmon Cove and Harmon Meadow shopping complex (where the movie theater is). Hartz is the largest private landowner in Secaucus. Their headquarters are currently in Harmon Meadow, but they will be moving to Meadowlands Parkway by summer's end.

Hartz bought up much of the land on the south side of town back in the early 1970s, when that part of Secaucus was nothing but swamps and meadowlands. Today, it is an industrial area, home to companies that pay a big chunk of Secaucus' tax base.