By Joshua Burd
State officials have given a major boost to another development in Newark, approving a nearly $22 million tax credit award for a new ground-up health care project in the South Ward.
According to the Economic Development Authority, the plan would transform a site at the corner of Clinton Avenue and Bergen Street that currently houses vacant land and older retail and warehouse buildings. A developer would raze those structures to make way for the new South Ward Wellness Center, which would house a nearly 12,000-square-foot Federally Qualified Health Center, a pharmacy and a host of other community health offerings.
The EDA on Wednesday approved the $21.7 million tax credit allocation under its Aspire program, which provides gap financing, to applicant South Ward Promise Neighborhood.
“Governor Phil Murphy envisioned the Aspire Program to support a wide range of projects to spur community development and economic growth,” said Tim Sullivan, the authority’s CEO. “Since its implementation, the program has gone on to support mixed-use housing developments, innovation hubs, production studios and now a major health care center in the South Ward of Newark.
“The South Ward Wellness Center will help transform the community by addressing health care inequities, while creating good-paying jobs and serving as an economic driver in the neighborhood. The Aspire Program is continuing to make a difference in communities across the state.”
Officials noted that the site at 479-485 Clinton Ave. and 648-652 Bergen St. is close to multiple NJ Transit bus lines. The new Federally Qualified Health Center, operated by Saint James Health Inc., will serve as a nonprofit, community-based clinic focused on providing quality health care services to medically underserved areas and populations, regardless of a patient’s ability to pay.
Saint James, which operates several FQHCs across Newark, will lease the space and offer primary and preventative community health care services, the EDA said. The nonprofit South Ward Promise Neighborhood will occupy the remaining space, offering health care services such as group therapy as well as maternal, medical and physical health treatment.
The authority noted that SWPN was formed in 2014 as a place-based organization focused on expanding access to quality education, food, housing, employment and physical and mental health resources for families in Newark’s South Ward. Officials added that, when complete, the four-story building will include up to 11,000 square feet of solar panels to generate clean, renewable electricity and reduce operating costs.
Officials have 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.
