As part of the Cleveland Arts and Cultural District, Plainfield has partnered with SK Development and On Collab in redeveloping the 1920s YMCA building at 518 Watchung Ave. into the 55,000-square-foot Plainfield Recreation and Cultural Center of Excellence, which will include a pool, event and performance space, workforce development space and an art gallery, as well as a building with 220 affordable units. — Rendering courtesy: City of Plainfield
New Jersey is still filled with towns that spurn development despite an increasingly obvious need for new investment. Fortunately for our audience, there are many others that embrace growth and leverage demand from developers to achieve other goals in the process.
One such community is Plainfield, which has added some 6,000 housing units in the past decade alone. As you’ll read in this month’s cover story, the Queen City is now working to attract new retail, recreation and dining options to support its growing population. Look no further than PickleRage, the new 40,000-square-foot pickleball club that just opened under a project by ECA Developers. That’s just one example, according to the story by Marlaina Cockcroft, coming alongside a new $10 million aquatics complex that debuted last summer and plans for a 55,000-square-foot recreation and cultural center with a pool, event and performance space, workforce development facilities and an art gallery, as well as a building with 220 affordable units.
“We’ve really been focusing on how we can create more of a destination,” said Zenobia Fields, Plainfield’s director of economic development, while still growing the city’s housing stock.
Our latest issue also includes some of our coverage of the recent Newark Summit for Real Estate, Economic Development & Placemaking, a daylong program that drew some 1,200 attendees to the state’s largest city. Among the many panels and presentations was a discussion on capital markets, finance and incentives, which explored Newark’s allure as a destination for those who value its workforce, transit access and deep network of anchor institutions. As those panelists noted, capturing that upside is far more complicated in the face of rising development costs, uncertainty over valuations and other headwinds.
“Every tool is critical to getting the math to work,” said Brian Murray, founder and CEO of SHIFT Capital, whose firm is involved in several mixed-use projects in the city.
Elsewhere in this edition, we highlight Melissa Clarke of Saul Ewing LLP in her new role as CREW NJ president. The attorney, who focuses on environmental law and real estate litigation, assumes the post a decade after joining the organization and said she’ll spend 2026 focused on bolstering networking and mentorship programs. She also plans to push professional development opportunities to position its members for success, as she leads the 13-member board for Commercial Real Estate Women Inc.’s New Jersey chapter,
You can find those stories and more in our February issue, which we’re happy to bring you after a busy start to the year. True, some of that was news that was held over from the end of 2025, but I’ve also seen and heard from many of you who are bullish as we look further out. We’re certainly seeing a higher volume of deals in segments of the market that were not so active at this time last year. Here’s hoping that continues as we await a long-overdue warm-up in the months ahead.
Until next time, thanks for reading. Enjoy the issue!
Joshua Burd
Editor
