Museum Parc, a mixed-use project to create a campus around The Newark Museum of Art, will include 250 new apartments and commercial space, a 4,000-square-foot art and program gallery and new public and resident amenities. — Rendering by KSS Architects/Courtesy: Newark Museum/LMXD
If you’re a regular reader, you may have noticed that October and early November brought a flurry of news related to capital projects at New Jersey’s cultural institutions — from the Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown to the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City. I’ll admit that these aren’t our typical commercial real estate stories, yet we know that many of these facilities are near and dear to the industry’s top executives or part of a larger development plan.
Enter The Newark Museum of Art, New Jersey’s oldest institution of its kind and the beneficiary of a new $2.5 million renovation to some of its most vital cultural and educational spaces. Importantly, it’s also the latest phase of a sweeping update and expansion of the museum’s campus in the city’s James Street Commons Historic District. The larger Museum Parc project is now taking shape around the facility, as you’ll read in this month’s cover story, as a development team constructs two new buildings with a combined 250 mixed-income apartments, ground-floor retail and additional cultural spaces such as a vibrant, glass-enclosed gallery. The construction along Central Avenue is now about 50 percent complete, as anticipation builds for full delivery in early 2027.
Our Winter issue also has a key update on the nearly $1.8 billion data center that CoreWeave, the fast-growing artificial intelligence cloud company, is building in Kenilworth. The project, part of the Northeast Science & Technology Center campus, has broken ground while securing a five-year, $250 million tax credit award from the state. The New Jersey Economic Development Authority approved the incentive in mid-November, marking the first allocation under the new Next New Jersey Program – AI meant to lure investments in large-scale AI data centers and related projects. The planned 250-megawatt project, which includes 108,100 square feet of new construction and a retrofit of an existing 284,500-square-foot building, is slated to be operational in early 2027.
Elsewhere in this edition, we highlight NAIOP New Jersey’s stepped-up focus on community service projects as part of a four-year strategic plan unveiled early this year. That was on display in July as the commercial real estate association visited the Community Food Bank of New Jersey’s Hillside facility, bringing back an annual volunteer day that began in 2010 but paused with the pandemic in 2020. The chapter is making good on its pledge in other ways, too, including a recent $5,000 contribution to the New Jersey School of Conservation to fund field experiences for students, particularly those whose schools lack the resources to do so.
“Through this donation, our chapter helped ensure that more students can access meaningful outdoor education and inspired other community-minded organizations to become partners in this vital statewide initiative,” NAIOP New Jersey CEO Dan Kennedy said.
You can find those stories and more in our last issue of 2025, which follows another busy year in New Jersey commercial real estate. I’ve often said that the industry has been remarkably productive in the face of headwinds these last few years, providing a steady flow of news despite any pessimism or uncertainty. Thankfully, I’ve heard more cautious optimism in recent months than I can remember hearing in some time, so let’s hope that continues in 2026.
Until then, thanks for reading, enjoy the issue and happy holidays!
Joshua Burd
Editor
