From left: Greg Lentine of PRC Group; Angela Garretson, director of policy and partnerships, New Jersey Institute of Technology; NJIT President Joel S. Bloom; Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka; Robert M. Kaye, chairman and CEO, PRC Group; Carmelo Garcia, deputy mayor of economic and housing development; and Aisha Glover, CEO and president of the Newark Community Economic Development Corp.. — Courtesy Greg Lentine
By Joshua Burd
The New Jersey Institute of Technology has unveiled its latest expansion plans in Newark, joining developer PRC Group and city officials on Wednesday to detail a proposed 99-unit apartment building on its campus.
Gathering at 240 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., the stakeholders marked the launch of what’s known as the NJIT Campus Gateway MLK Project. Phase one of the proposal calls for building the market-rate apartment building directly across the street from St. Michael’s Hospital, along with 1,300 square feet of ground-floor retail space and 100 parking spaces.
The project, will be built in at least three phases, is the continuation of a decade-old plan to revitalize more than 20 acres of Newark’s University Heights neighborhood.
“We are very excited about what this project will do for University Heights, NJIT and the city of Newark as a whole,” said Joel S. Bloom, president of NJIT.
Bloom joined Mayor Ras Baraka and Robert M. Kaye, chairman and CEO of the PRC Group, for the announcement. NJIT has designated development rights for the project to PRC, which completed the high-profile Campus Town at The College of New Jersey and is involved in the University Place redevelopment at New Jersey City University.
The NJIT project comes as part of the Gateway Development Plan, which the school and other stakeholders established in 2007. The plan calls for redeveloping and rehabilitating some 21.5 acres to create a gateway between the college campuses and existing neighborhoods, enhancing the quality of life for members of the community.
The city named NJIT the master redeveloper in 2009, giving way to the initial components of the Gateway plan. In 2013, NJIT completed the Warren Street Village, which included five duplex units to house 10 fraternity and sorority organizations that had previously inhabited houses along Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
The school also completed the Albert Dorman Honors College residence hall, a mixed-use facility for student housing with ground-floor retail.
A contingent of city officials, which also included Carmelo Garcia, deputy mayor of economic and housing development, and Aisha Glover, CEO and president of the Newark Community Economic Development Corp., touted that progress on Wednesday.
