Paterson developer to sell 85 buildings
Florio says he'll fund bigger projects in city
By: Joe Malinconico
Paterson Press
PATEROSON - Charles Florio, the city's most profile housing developer, is looking to sell 85 buildings containing 1,528 apartments, which amount to about 25% of the units he wons here.
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Florio said he plans to "recycle capital" by using money form the properties he sells to pay for "much larger deals in the city of Paterson."
..... "This doesn't mean we're walking away form Paterson," Florio said. "We're clearly committed to Paterson for the long term."
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But Florio's critics point to his four large-scale developments that have stalled in construction for several years as a sign that the builder is running into cash-flow problems.
..... "He needs the money for those projects," Councilman Michael Jackson said.
..... The developer said he owns 500 properties in the city with 5,000 to 6,000 apartments. Florio said he is looking to invest the money he would get form selling the 85 buildings by buying other by buying other Paterson properties where he wold build hundreds of one-to-four-family homes.
..... In a densely populated city, there doesn't seem to be many vacant properties where large numbers of one- to four-family homes can be built. Florio declined to identify the sites, saying he is in negotiations to purchase them. At present, most Florio holdings in Paterson are apartment buildings.
..... News of Florio's plan to sell the 85 buildings was announced last week [05/14/2026] by the Kislak Company, a Woodbridge-based firm that said it would be the exclusive sales broker. Among the properties on the for-sale list are 92 Carroll Street, 144-150 Fair Street, 180-186 Cedar Street and 2010-220 Governor Street.
.... Kislak said the average rent for the apartness the buildings for sale is more than $2,100 per month. The realty firm said most of the buildings were constructed or substantially renovated between 2018 and 2025.
..... Kislak said many of the properties have 30-years tax abatement that started in 2019 and subsequent years. Those tax breaks would transfer to the new owners, under state law.
..... Jackson said he thinks Florio is trying to sell the 85 properties to get money to finish housing projects that have languished for years. At one construction site, the would frames are starting to rot from exposure to the weather, Jackson said.
Four projects of $150 million will have 500 units
..... Florio has been in construction for more than three years on four projects that cost more than $150 million combined and will produce more than 500 new apartments.
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They are his Paterson Armory development on Market Street, the downtown Greenbaum project on Van Hounten Street, his fair Street development, and the apartments he's constructions at the corner of Main Street and Broadway.
..... Florio - who is well-known for his donations to nonprofit groups in the city - said his prospects have been delayed by the state intervention several years ago in Paterson's construction office, which he said has caused a one-year backup in the issuance of building permits.
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Florio and Mayor Andre Sayegh have been allies for well over a decade and the developer was a major contributor to the mayor's reelection campaign. There relationship goes back to the days when Sayegh was a councilman and Florio was Buying and fixing up abandoned buildings in the city.
..... Florio essentially opened the door for Sayegh to become mayor when he hired a private investigator in 2015 to conduct surveillance on then-Mayor Joey Torres. The investigator filmed med city employees doing renovations at a Torres family beer wholesale business,
..... Those recordings became the basis for the attorney general's criminal case that removed Torres from the mayor's office and put him in person for 13 months.
..... In 2022, Florio hired the same investigator to follow one of Sayegh's mayoral opponents in an unsuccessful effort to prove that the rival lived outside of Paterson.
..... Paterson Press ha asked Sayegh for his reaction to Florio's plans to sell 1,528 apartments.
..... "Mr Florio has indicated that his next phase of his investment in Paterson will be focused on homeownership, specifically one - and two-family homes," the mayor said. "Moreover, he is seeking to convert some of his properties into affordable housing opportunities for Patersonians.