Current Issue

Bearing fruit

I’m as guilty as anyone of overusing words like “transformative” when it comes to major redevelopment projects. But it seems in some instances like there’s no avoiding it. A case in point is a plan for Woodbridge’s Metropark train station, where surface parking lots will become a new office and ambulatory care center spanning nearly 250,000 square feet, as well as 235 luxury apartments and retail space. If you ask me, that seems transformative enough.

Our cover story this month is a deep dive on that project, which Hackensack Meridian Health unveiled in early March alongside Gov. Phil Murphy and a team that includes Russo Development, Onyx Equities and Dinallo Development.

Retail

The health care effect: Inside the deal for Hackensack Meridian’s new hub at Metropark — and what it says about the industry’s role in commercial real estate

Plans for a high-profile Hackensack Meridian Health facility in Woodbridge are only 18 months in the making. Yet it was the product of relationships that had formed years earlier at the upper levels of New Jersey’s real estate and health care sectors, helping to make good on years of planning by state and local officials to activate the Metropark train station.

Government & Public Policy

New affordable, supportive housing taking shape near hospitals with help of HMFA program

The first projects have arrived under a state program aimed at creating affordable and supportive housing near hospitals — providing shelter and other services while reducing the burden on local health care institutions — as officials eye continued growth for the program.

Making connections: How Morristown’s HQ Plaza will engage residents, visitors with new public-facing spaces

The renovation of Morristown’s landmark Headquarters Plaza will look to energize the sprawling concourse that connects three office towers, a Hyatt Regency hotel and a host of retailers and restaurants under the roof of the 1 million-square-foot complex. Not to be overlooked is the idea that the refreshed property will also engage the community in a way that it hasn’t in decades, taking cues from the town’s other recent redevelopment projects.

Residential & Mixed Use

Going greener: From rainwater recycling to composting, apartment builders see a new frontier in sustainability

For some apartment developers, LED lighting and electric vehicle chargers just won’t do when it comes to sustainability. A handful of new rental projects in New Jersey are making that clear with more cutting-edge, eco-conscious features such as oversized green spaces, rainwater recycling and even an on-site composting system.

Editor’s Note

A closer look

I’d venture to say that green design is still underappreciated as a practice and as an industry within the broader commercial real estate sector. I’ll even take some ownership of that, as someone who is meant to highlight where the market is and where it’s going in the great state of New Jersey, including the increasingly important topic of sustainability. That’s our focus in this month’s cover story, where we explore some of the more cutting-edge, eco-conscious features that multifamily builders are weaving into their projects. That includes everything from rainwater recycling to on-site composting systems that produce fertilizer for landscaping, as we find in a new luxury rental property in Jersey City. Halpern Real Estate Ventures, the developer of what’s known as Birch House, says those choices stem from the firm’s own corporate philosophy and a desire to meet the market where it’s going, even if those features are not quite widespread in New Jersey (not yet, anyway).

With new $100 million rescue capital fund, Denholtz sees long-term value in solving short-term challenges

Denholtz Properties is raising $100 million for its new rescue capital fund, with plans to draw on its own vertically integrated, in-house team to find investments and make them successful as it looks to build new long-term relationships in the industry.

Industrial

Demand soars for ‘community solar’ projects on warehouses, as state program enters new phase

Landlords are expanding their participation in New Jersey’s nation-leading Community Solar Energy Program, which allows property owners to lease their rooftops to solar developers, as the state transitions from a pilot phase to a permanent model.

Roundtable

How is Gen Z influencing design or construction choices for new apartment buildings?

How is Gen Z influencing design or construction choices for new apartment buildings? We assembled a panel of industry experts to tackle this month’s question.

Residential & Mixed Use

Luxury living arrives in Hawthorne in long-awaited project with fitness club, self-storage

Renters have flocked to a new luxury apartment building in Hawthorne — the first of its kind for the midsized borough just north of Paterson — part of a distinctive mixed-use development that also has an on-site Planet Fitness and CubeSmart self-storage facility.