ARTHUR HALVAJIAN;DEVELOPED MALL AT IV
JAY LEVIN
NorthJersey.com
July 29 2010
Arthur M. Halvajian of Saddle River, developer and former owner of
the Mall at IV in Paramus, died Monday at The Valley Hospital in
Ridgewood. He was 76.
The cause was complications from leukemia, said his sister, Alyce
Parseghian.
Mr. Halvajian, a Teaneck High School graduate and an Army veteran of
the Korean War, worked as a photoengraver and a mortgage broker before
venturing into commercial real estate development in the 1960s. He
built stores in the former Eyelab vision-care chain and a shopping
center in northeast Philadelphia. His signature project endures as
a Paramus landmark.
The Mall at IV, an enclosed, 120,000-square-foot, two-story shopping
center, opened in 1986 on westbound Route 4. Mr. Halvajian competed
against a hotel company and several developers for the lease to the
10-acre site.
“People have come all the way from Florida to view what we are doing,
because this building has never been built before,” he said in a 1986
interview. “There isn’t an enclosed mall I know of in the country
that permits exposure of the tenants’ names on the outside.”
The $8 million project’s original anchor store was Filene’s Basement.
“He was so proud of that mall and his country and his Armenian
heritage,” his sister said. “He looked for the biggest American flag
he could find and flew it outside the mall, but before he put it up
he arranged for it to fly over the U.S. Capitol.”
Mr. Halvajian owned the Mall at IV for little more than a decade. The
departure of Filene’s Basement led to difficult times. Mr. Halvajian
entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in 1995; the case was
converted to Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation in 1997.
A son of Armenian immigrants, Mr. Halvajian helped bring Armenian
children to the United States for medical treatment in his role as
a director of Medical Outreach for Armenians. The organization was
formed after a 1988 earthquake devastated Armenia, then a Soviet
republic. Parseghian said her brother made many trips to Armenia
to deliver relief and medical supplies and to arrange for Armenian
doctors to come to the U.S. for training.
Three years ago, Mr. Halvajian and his wife, Araxy, were reunited in
New Jersey with Arman Ghazaryan, who was living in Spitak, Armenia,
when the earthquake struck. Ghazaryan, who was 8 years old at the time,
suffered a crushed skull and other serious injuries; the Halvajians
cared for him during his two months of reconstructive surgery in the
United States.
In addition to his wife and sister, Mr. Halvajian is survived by his
son, A.J., and daughter, Alyne.
The wake will be Friday from 6 to 9 p.m. at William G. Basralian
Funeral Home, Oradell. The funeral will be Saturday at 10:30 a.m. at
St. Leon Armenian Church in Fair Lawn. Burial will be in George
Washington Memorial Park, Paramus.
E-mail: [email protected] Arthur M. Halvajian of Saddle River,
developer and former owner of the Mall at IV in Paramus, died Monday
at The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood. He was 76.
The cause was complications from leukemia, said his sister, Alyce
Parseghian.
Mr. Halvajian, a Teaneck High School graduate and an Army veteran of
the Korean War, worked as a photoengraver and a mortgage broker before
venturing into commercial real estate development in the 1960s. He
built stores in the former Eyelab vision-care chain and a shopping
center in northeast Philadelphia. His signature project endures as
a Paramus landmark.
The Mall at IV, an enclosed, 120,000-square-foot, two-story shopping
center, opened in 1986 on westbound Route 4. Mr. Halvajian competed
against a hotel company and several developers for the lease to the
10-acre site.
“People have come all the way from Florida to view what we are doing,
because this building has never been built before,” he said in a 1986
interview. “There isn’t an enclosed mall I know of in the country
that permits exposure of the tenants’ names on the outside.”
The $8 million project’s original anchor store was Filene’s Basement.
“He was so proud of that mall and his country and his Armenian
heritage,” his sister said. “He looked for the biggest American flag
he could find and flew it outside the mall, but before he put it up
he arranged for it to fly over the U.S. Capitol.”
Mr. Halvajian owned the Mall at IV for little more than a decade. The
departure of Filene’s Basement led to difficult times. Mr. Halvajian
entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in 1995; the case was
converted to Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation in 1997.
A son of Armenian immigrants, Mr. Halvajian helped bring Armenian
children to the United States for medical treatment in his role as
a director of Medical Outreach for Armenians. The organization was
formed after a 1988 earthquake devastated Armenia, then a Soviet
republic. Parseghian said her brother made many trips to Armenia
to deliver relief and medical supplies and to arrange for Armenian
doctors to come to the U.S. for training.
Three years ago, Mr. Halvajian and his wife, Araxy, were reunited in
New Jersey with Arman Ghazaryan, who was living in Spitak, Armenia,
when the earthquake struck. Ghazaryan, who was 8 years old at the time,
suffered a crushed skull and other serious injuries; the Halvajians
cared for him during his two months of reconstructive surgery in the
United States.
In addition to his wife and sister, Mr. Halvajian is survived by his
son, A.J., and daughter, Alyne.
The wake will be Friday from 6 to 9 p.m. at William G. Basralian
Funeral Home, Oradell. The funeral will be Saturday at 10:30 a.m. at
St. Leon Armenian Church in Fair Lawn. Burial will be in George
Washington Memorial Park, Paramus.
From: A. Papazian