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that is not feasible for conventional builders.
“So a nonprofit developer like Devco will take a
project that
does require
a whole lot of predevelopment work —
that could sometimes
be measured
in years — in
order to bring a project together, because its economic structure is really geared toward the successful completion of the project, not return on capital,” Coscia said.
The power of that strategy was
on full display in 2021, a year in which Devco broke ground on
more than $1.5 billion worth of development — including the state’s first freestanding cancer hospital and a 560,000-square-foot research and innovation campus, both in downtown New Brunswick. The milestones also came less than three years removed from two
other transformative projects: a
mixed-use, $172 million performing arts complex in the city and the $210 million Gateway project, which brought a new satellite college campus and a corporate headquarters to Atlantic City.
“In a city, in general, you need to create critical mass,” said Paladino, a New Brunswick native and Rutgers alumnus, who joined Devco as its president in 1994 after serving as
the deputy director of the state Economic Development Authority. That meant he was able to draw on his experience in state government in support of his new role, doing so alongside Coscia, the former EDA executive director, and George Zoffinger, the business magnate and former authority chairman, who had stepped in to lead Devco’s board.
“We saw too many cities make the mistake of doing a project here and then doing one eight blocks away. They should do them across the street from each other.”
That experience, along with Paladino’s ability to connect with political, business and institutional
REALESTATENJTM 19
Anthony Coscia
Construction is underway on the 12-story, 520,000-square-foot Jack and Sheryl Morris Cancer Center in New Brunswick, with completion slated for 2024. RWJBarnabas Health and the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey are building the $700 million facility in partnership with New Brunswick Development Corp.
leaders, has been integral to Devco’s success. Their support is a common thread in each of its projects, he said, noting that they are in turn counting on the developer to “help meet public policy goals that are going unfulfilled, either by the public or the private sector.”
Typically, the projects also involve
an eclectic layering of funding and financing sources from government, the capital markets and everything in between — from third-party equity to parking authority bonds to high- profile state tax credit programs.
“There are things that the government is not set up to do and there are risks that the private sector
Courtesy: RWJBarnabas/Rutgers Cancer Institute