Housing, Shops, Art: $336M Project At NJPAC In Newark Is Underway

NEWARK, NJ — A $336 million plan to build hundreds of housing units, retail shops and a space for the arts is officially underway in downtown Newark.

On Wednesday, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) broke ground on the highly publicized redevelopment of its 12-acre campus.

The residential component of the project will include 350 mixed income units totaling 384,840 square feet, with an additional 10,500 square feet of office space and 12,600 square feet of retail space, according to a previous statement from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority. See Related: Real Estate Project Near NJPAC Gets Tax Break From NJ

According to developers, the project will also include shops, restaurants, new outdoor gathering spaces and a unique education and community center with professional rehearsal spaces (see artist renderings in the gallery above).

The full project is expected to cross the finish line in the fall of 2027. See Related: 'Transformation' Of NJPAC Campus In Newark Has Begun

Some components will include:

ARTSIDE – “The reimagined campus … will include ArtSide, a mixed-use, mixed-income residential complex developed by NJPAC, LMXD and MCI Collective, and planned and designed by celebrated architectural firm Skidmore Owings & Merrill. ArtSide will consist of 350 rental units (20% of which will be affordable housing) plus retail and cultural spaces — among them a new home for Newark’s beloved jazz public radio station, WBGO — as well as an extension of Mulberry Street, on what is now NJPAC’s Parking Lot A.”

COMMUNITY CENTER – “The 58,000-square-foot Cooperman Family Arts Education and Community Center, designed by the renowned architectural firm of Weiss/Manfredi, will be built on Parking Lot C and will serve as a dynamic hub where students, community partners, and artists can gather, learn, and create.”

OUTDOOR SPACE – “A dynamic redesign of NJPAC’s front yard, Chambers Plaza, and the addition of a new space, Essex County Green, to the Arts Center’s campus, will create a four-season urban park. Landscape architecture studio Future Green created the design for the new Chambers Plaza.”

BUILDING REVISIONS – “Newark’s OCA Architects will design renovations of 31 Mulberry Street, an existing building NJPAC recently acquired adjacent to the site of the Cooperman Center. The building will house additional spaces for community gatherings, plus educational and office spaces for the Arts Center. NJPAC’s eastern façade, certain interiors and loading docks will also be redesigned.”

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“NJPAC’s campus redevelopment is more than a construction project; it’s a powerful investment in Newark’s communities and future,” Gov. Phil Murphy said.

“This initiative will not only provide more housing and commercial spaces, but also create vibrant cultural and educational opportunities that will enrich the lives of Newark residents for generations to come,” the governor added.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said the new campus will bring more housing, stores and gathering places to the “already lively” downtown area.

“The streets of Newark have always been steeped in the arts,” Baraka said. “This is a city where jazz and hip hop are in the breeze, and every wall without a mural is just a canvas no one’s yet claimed.”

NJPAC noted that the project took the combined efforts of many hands to get off the ground:

“Among the partners who have joined in the planning and development of NJPAC’s campus redevelopment are the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA), which granted the project’s $200M tax credits under the Transformative Aspire Program; Prudential Financial, which facilitated the master planning of the campus redesign and financed NJPAC’s predevelopment needs; Liberty Mutual, which committed to investing across the capital stack as both an Aspire tax credit investor and a limited partner; Citi Community Capital, which spearheaded construction lending and low-income housing tax credit investing for the project; TD Bank, which provided NJPAC with New Markets Tax Credit allocation for the Cooperman Center construction and a tax-exempt bond for other campus improvements; Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr., and the County of Essex, who supported the redesign of campus outdoor spaces; co-development partner Siree Morris, Managing Director of MCI Collective; the New Jersey Housing Mortgage Finance Agency and Freddie Mac, which provided permanent loan commitments; and New Jersey Community Capital which provided support in New Market Tax Credits. LMXD partnered with NJPAC to manage design, approvals and financing for the project.”

Philanthropic support from major donors who contributed to the new Arts Center’s $244 million capital campaign – which completed in December – also helped finance the project, developers said.

“Newark is a city rich in history and possibilities, and NJPAC's role as an active, engaged and productive anchor cultural institution in its future is an extraordinarily exciting one,” NJPAC CEO John Schreiber said.

“We're grateful beyond measure to the remarkable coalition of partners, both public and private, who have collaborated with us to make this new neighborhood an exciting reality,” Schreiber added.

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