Former Wyckoff Residents Alvin and Susan Sauer Celebrated at 35 Plaza

Before it was 35 Plaza, the plot of Route 4 in Paramus where the shopping center sits today was occupied by a short-lived restaurant called the 35 Club. 

By 1972, that restaurant was gone, leaving the land ripe for development.

That year, Alvin Sauer and a partner built the now-40-year-old center, spending the next year bringing in tenants like the Moonraker restaurant and the Cinema 35 movie theater. Over the following decades, the former Wyckoff resident nurtured the center's growth, which culminated in 2005 with the completion of an 18,000-square-foot addition.

When Sauer died in 2007, his wife Susan kept the center going. She brought in several of the shopping center's current tenants before her death in 2011.

Though Moonraker has been supplanted by and has replaced Cinema 35, the Sauer family is still in place at Plaza 35. The Sauer's four children are all co-owners and daughters Elizabeth and Stephanie are still involved in managing the shopping center.

"We're a family-run business and it's been a family-run business since Alvin developed this," said Elizabeth's husband Paul T. Casson, who is also involved in managing 35 Plaza.

Casson credited Alvin and Susan with cultivating a mix of tenants that complemented one another. Houlihan's brings in traffic late, draws morning customers, meshes well with and plus-sized store , and so on.

Maintaning tenant relations has been key as well, Casson said. While negotiating with Jenny Craig to lease space at 35 Plaza, the shopping center's managers made sure the manager at Catherine's was OK with the deal.

"Loyalty is key," Casson said. "You have tenant loyalty, landlord loyalty, everything else will be worked out."

Elizabeth Sauer called her father "a matchmaker."

"He just had a good idea of the natural mix of tenants," she said.

On Friday, 35 Plaza is hosting a celebration of its founders. Paramus Mayor Richard LaBarbiera has declared March 2 "Alvin and Susan Sauer Day."

The mayor will help dedicate a bench to the couple and all the tenants at of 35 Plaza are offering discounts to shoppers. Leslie and Linda Hingle, and John and Heather Spitzer, longtime neighbors of the Sauers in Wyckoff, purchased the bench with a plaque that will be dedicated to the couple.

"I think it's a fitting tribute to both Alvin and Susan and without them obviously I wouldn't be here and 35 Plaza wouldn't be here," Casson said. "I'm happy that we are all working together to honor them."