Business View Civil and Municipal | May/June 2022

70 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 3, ISSUE 5 steel that went across the whole Hudson River to stop the British from invading into New York City. The only way to do that was by building a chain, and the chain was built here in Pompton Lakes.” By the 1970s, the Borough of Pompton Lakes was known less for its munitions and more for its shopping opportunities. People came from all over North Jersey to shop at the variety of stores in the community’s downtown. But slowly, over time, the big box stores located on the nearby highways and hurt the downtown tremendously. The mom-and-pop stores were really struggling to make it work. So, when Serr became Mayor a decade ago, he made it his mission to reinvent the borough and make it a destination for shoppers once again. Now, the area is back on track as one of growth and development. The Mayor recalls, “Everyone said, ‘lets get an anchor store’, but an anchor store doesn’t want BUILDINGON BELONGING FOR OVER 50 YEARS THE LEADER IN REDEVELOPMENT WWW.CAPODAGLI.COM Capodagli Property Company is a full-service real estate development, construction, and property management firm specializing in multi- family and mixed-use real estate projects.