Page 20 - RENJ_Combo_12_21

18 DECEMBER 2021
HOW DEVCO DOES IT
Inside developer’s $1.5 billion construction pipeline — and decades of high-profile projects in New Jersey
For an organization that seemingly thrives on complexity — from vast construction
projects to its intricate capital stacks to managing public- and private- sector stakeholders — the success of New Brunswick Development Corp. has hinged on one rather simple objective.
Chris Paladino can’t help but crack a smile at something that sounds so obvious or intuitive.
“Helping public officials fulfill their vision is a very good strategy,”
said Paladino, the organization’s president, whose team has developed everything from government office buildings to sweeping campus expansions for Rutgers and Stockton universities.
“It’s helping them get to where they want to go and using skills and resources that we have, because they’re aligned with what we’re trying to do,” he added. “We’re trying to create jobs and redevelop and make New Jersey’s cities a better place to be.”
Straightforward as it may sound, there is nothing easy about what New Brunswick Development Corp. has done for the past three decades, during which it has completed 8.3 million square feet of development with a combined $3.5 billion in investment. The not-for-profit organization, better known as Devco, is also unlike any other developer in New Jersey with respect to how it functions and the scale at which it operates.
All the more notable: It has never
done the same project twice, despite having a formula that it has repeated and refined from one high-profile development to the next.
“Devco does not work on cookie- cutter transactions — but it’s really by design,” said Anthony Coscia, a partner with Windels Marx and the developer’s longtime counsel. He points to the “enormous amount
of effort” that’s required to bring together an array of public- and private-sector interests and funding sources, as Devco does, in a way
By Joshua Burd
Led by Christopher Paladino, New Brunswick Development Corp. is marking a milestone year after breaking ground on more than $1.5 billion worth of development in 2021. Paladino has led the not-for- profit developer since 1994.
Photo by Hal Brown for Real Estate NJ