By Joshua Burd
The state has pledged its support for two more residential projects in Newark, approving more than $142 million in combined subsidies under the Aspire tax credit program.
The larger building, a planned 22-story high-rise at 22 Fulton St., would bring 396 apartments to what’s currently a parking lot just west of McCarter Highway and adjacent to the Newark Light Rail. The Economic Development Authority on Wednesday approved a 10-year, $90 million Aspire award for the project, which is spearheaded by the Newark-based Berger Organization, noting that it would include 315 market-rate rentals and 80 affordable units.
The site, which is three-quarters of an acre, is within a 15-minute walk of both Newark Penn Station and Newark Broad Street Stations. Construction for the nearly $172 million project is slated to begin in July and would take 36 months, the EDA wrote in a memo to its board, with Beyer Blinder Belle and CM & Associates Construction Management LLC serving as the architect and general contractor, respectively.
For Berger, which has owned property in Newark for some five decades, the Fulton Street tower would represent its most high-profile project in years. Its existing holdings in the city include office buildings at 33 Washington St., 58 Park Place, 570 Broad St. and the Military Park Building at 60 Park Place, along with the Robert Treat Hotel and the TRYP by Wyndham Newark Downtown.
The collection of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments would come with amenities such as a coworking lounge, indoor and outdoor exercise fitness areas, an outdoor garden area and rooftop outdoor and interior lounges, among others, the EDA said. Plans also call for 4,726 square feet of retail space and structured parking for 106 vehicles.
The EDA on Wednesday also approved a $52.3 million Aspire award for a proposed 13-story, 225-unit building in the city’s Ironbound section at 430-436 Market St. A development team led by David Weisz & Sons USA LLC plans to build the 206,779-square-foot tower on a vacant lot near Newark Penn Station, the authority said, adding that the $87.2 million project would include 180 market-rate and 45 affordable units, amenities and 2,120 square feet of ground-floor retail space.
Comito Associates PC is the project’s architect, while YNH Construction NJ LLC is the general contractor, according to the EDA. Construction is expected to begin in December, with an estimated timeline of 30 months.
EDA officials have noted with past approvals that Aspire, which was created by the New Jersey Economic Recovery Act of 2020, is a place-based economic development program to support mixed-use, transit-oriented development with tax credits to commercial and residential projects that have financing gaps. All residential Aspire projects must include at least 20 percent affordable housing, while applicants must certify that all commitments established at time of approval have been met before receiving their first disbursement of tax credits.
The tax credit would be among several funding sources for both projects, which will also use first mortgages from the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, conventional financing, federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, cash and other equity sources.
