Designed by Minno & Wasko Architects and Planners, The Crossings at Brick Church Station will include a second phase with a nine-story building with 420 apartments, 86,161 square feet of retail and restaurant space and 26,621 square feet of office and medical space.
By Joshua Burd
The next phase of a massive redevelopment in East Orange is one step closer to breaking ground with the help of a nearly $298 million tax credit award under the state’s Aspire program.
According to the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, which approved the subsidy last week, the project at 533 Main St. calls for a nine-story building with 420 apartments, 86,161 square feet of retail and restaurant space and 26,621 square feet of office and medical space. The $425 million development by Triangle Equities is now set to break ground in mid-October, the EDA said, noting that it marks the second piece of The Crossings at Brick Church Station.
The first phase, which has long been visible to drivers on Interstate 280, consists of 400 apartments, a 61,000-square-foot ShopRite and a 1,200-space parking garage and is nearing completion under a project designed by Minno & Wasko Architects and Planners and built by March Associates Construction. Construction for phase two — which qualifies as a “transformative” project under the Aspire law and is thus eligible for larger incentives — is slated to take 25 months.
“The Crossings at Brick Church Station in East Orange, New Jersey exemplifies a transformative
project that strategically leverages the State’s mass transit and economic development assets to
stimulate sustainable growth,” the EDA wrote in a memo to its board last week. “Situated adjacent to the NJ Transit Brick Church Station, the development provides public transit connectivity, offering a 25-minute commute to Midtown Manhattan and even shorter access to Newark — two of the region’s most significant employment centers.
“This direct transit access is a benefit for skilled workers who value efficient, car-free connectivity to job opportunities, cultural institutions and urban amenities. The Project’s integration with mass transit infrastructure positions it as a model for transit-oriented development (TOD), aligning with the State’s economic development priorities.”
Officials noted that the project site, which is currently used as a surface parking lot, is served by five NJ Transit bus lines and fronts Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to the north, Harrison Street to the west and Halsted Street to the east.
“East Orange’s location and infrastructure also support its emergence as a hub for talent retention
and attraction, particularly among workers in finance, health care, education and technology,” the EDA wrote. “By capitalizing on the proximity to major higher education institutions such as Rutgers University–Newark, NJIT, and Seton Hall University, The Crossings at Brick Church Station supports synergies between academic innovation and workforce development.”
Minno & Wasko and IMC Construction are the second phase’s architect and general contractor, respectively, with authority noting that the new 420 apartments will include 84 affordable units and 63 workforce housing units. The project, which has 342 parking spaces, also entails remediation that will include a concrete cap over the site to create a physical barrier between the project structures and below-ground contamination.
533 Main Street LLC, the Triangle Equities affiliate, applied for the roughly $297.9 million tax credit alongside co-applicant NSI Aspire LLC. The latter is an affiliate of nonprofit Neighborhood Services Inc., which will provide residents of the project with programming for financial literacy and building credit, health and wellness, shopping for healthy foods at the adjacent ShopRite supermarket and interviewing skills, resume prep and job readiness.
The EDA’s approval comes nearly three years after Gov. Phil Murphy and other officials joined Triangle Equities to break ground on the $500 million first phase the plan to redevelop the former Brick Church Plaza shopping center. Those on hand also included the late Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver, a longtime East Orange resident, as well as Triangle Equities’ investment partners Goldman Sachs and Basis Investment Group.
The Aspire award represents up to 80 percent of eligible project cost for phase two, accounting for some $35.7 million for land acquisition and $262.2 million for the rest of the eligible costs, the EDA said. The authority has 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.
As a performance-based program, projects must certify that all commitments established at time of approval have been met before receiving their first disbursement of tax credits.
Developers join Murphy, Oliver to launch $500 million redevelopment in East Orange
