Th Urban Land Institute of Northern New Jersey hosted its annual Excellence Awards, it largest event of the year, where it honored projects, professionals and companies in nearly 20 categories. The event took place April 4 at the Westmount Country Club in Woodland Park — All photos by Joy Malone Photography/Courtesy: ULI NNJ
By Joshua Burd
Even for the likes of Prism Capital Partners, a developer that’s well versed in repurposing historic buildings, so-called adaptive reuse projects are not for the faint of heart.
The firm’s Gene Diaz said as much last week to a crowd of nearly 200, as Prism accepted an award for its acclaimed Wonder Lofts project at Hoboken’s 114-year-old Wonder Bread factory.
“It is a labor of love, and I don’t suggest any of you try it,” he said, drawing laughs from those on hand for the Urban Land Institute’s Northern New Jersey Excellence Awards.
He then struck a more serious tone.
“That being said, the United States has a housing crisis. New Jersey has a deeper housing crisis based on its demographics, its income and in particular its nature of home rule politics,” said Diaz, a principal partner with Nutley-based Prism. “We all as an industry have to do a much better job of talking to our municipalities about the importance of densifying our neighborhoods, adapting these projects to provide the housing that’s necessary.”
The comment likely struck a chord with those in the room — and for a group that sits at the nexus of commercial real estate and public policy. Not surprisingly, those synergies were a recurring theme on April 4 as ULI’s Northern New Jersey chapter hosted its largest event of the year, at the Westmount Country Club in Woodland Park, where it honored projects, professionals and companies in nearly 20 categories.
“This year’s award-winning projects exemplify the best of which ULI seeks to promote — diverse stakeholders representing both public and private interests building bridges and finding common ground to improve the design-build environment and creating more equitable and livable communities in New Jersey,” said Thomas J. Trautner Jr., chair of the redevelopment, land use and zoning group at Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi PC and ULI NNJ co-chair.
SLIDESHOW: ULI NNJ Excellence Awards
The list of honorees, which is available below, included everything from a new cargo facility at Newark Liberty International Airport to the sweeping mixed-use redevelopment of the former Mercedes-Benz campus in Montvale. Many of the award recipients cited the importance of working closely with government agencies and officials, especially at challenged sites or in cases where the numbers don’t work without public financing.
That was a message from developer Baye Adofo-Wilson as he accepted the Public/Private Partnerships award for the restoration of Paterson’s iconic Hinchliffe Stadium.
“In this project we really had to lean on the ‘public’ aspect of the project,” he said, citing the support of officials at every level of government and the complex layering of tax credits, for a project that also includes a museum for baseball’s Negro League, structured parking and 75 units of affordable senior housing. Also important, he said, is that residents can participate in the finished product by way of the newly restored field and other facilities on site.
“This project is fundamentally a public project that the public-school students in Paterson get to use 180 days a year,” said Adofo-Wilson, the CEO of BAW Development. He added: “It is the essence of what a public-private partnership is, and I think that with these complicated projects we should think about ways to include them more.”
Other honorees echoed calls for cooperation between developers and policymakers. Dean Marchetto, who received the award for Leadership in Real Estate – Professional Services, said the state’s severe housing shortage is both a crisis and an opportunity for the commercial real estate sector. But with high interest rates, high land costs and other impediments to new construction, he said, local officials must realize “that increased density is the solution to creating more housing” and helping new projects be financially feasible.
“We need to tell our elected officials that density is their currency,” said Marchetto, founding principal of Hoboken-based MHS Architecture. “With density they can produce more housing, more affordable housing and even things like placemaking, parks and playgrounds — and maybe even stabilize taxes as well.
“Every shopping mall on the highway, every office park, all the parking lots in our downtown … are opportunities to create housing. This is our chance to show leadership. Let’s be leaders.”
Those on hand for the April 4 event included a diverse crowd of leaders from real estate and the professional service sectors, as well as government officials and executives in health care and education.
“This year’s Excellence Awards applicants truly exemplified what makes New Jersey so special,” said Anthony Ianuale, chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Dresdner Robin and ULINNJ co-chair. We extend thanks to all the remarkable award-winners, our ULI NNJ awards committee and all of the ULI NNJ board members who made the evening possible.”
Winning the long game
Support from the public sector may be key to development, but patience and perseverance may be every bit as important. That was evident by another honoree at the ULI Northern New Jersey Excellence Awards — the landmark Bell Works project, which is marking 10 years since its official launch as a mixed-use business and community hub at the 2 million-square-foot former Bell Labs campus in Holmdel.
Ralph Zucker, president of Inspired by Somerset Development and the visionary behind the project, called it “gratifying” to receive ULI’s Long-Term Adaptive Reuse award, while noting that the project goes back much more than a decade.
“We would add ‘extremely’ long-term adaptive reuse,” Zucker joked, accepting the award alongside teams from The Garibaldi Group and NPZ Studio . “We started envisioning the redevelopment of the former Bell Labs into today’s thriving Bell Works in 2008. And we’re finally at 99 percent leased, thanks very much to some of the folks standing behind me.”
He added that, “along the way, we’ve created an entire new genre of space,” alluding to Bell Works’ branding as a “metroburb.” That’s due in large part to its quarter-mile-long atrium, which provides a bustling, downtown-style environment inside a suburban office building.
The full list — Urban Land Institute’s Northern New Jersey 2024 Excellence Awards:
Rising Star
Patrick Carino, The NRP Group
Capital Markets/Debt & Equity
Pathside in Journal Square (Jersey City)
- Panepinto Properties
- JLL
Leadership in Real Estate – Public Sector
- Mayor John McCormac, Woodbridge
- Caroline Ehrlich, executive director, Woodbridge Redevelopment Agency
Leadership in Real Estate – Professional Services
- Dean Marchetto, MHS Architecture
ULI Women’s Leadership Initiative
- Kayla Reddington, Turner Construction Co.
Sustainable Development/Net Zero
55 Union, Newark
- J&L Cos.
- Minno & Wasko Architects and Planners
- Christie Engineering PC
- Van Praet & Weisgerber
- Eka Associates
- Arterial Design Studio
- Rebar
- Sordoni Construction
Public/Private Partnerships
Hinchliffe Stadium, Paterson
- City of Paterson
- BAW Development LLC
- RPM Development Group
- Clarke Caton Hintz Architects
- Zakalak Associates
- Inglese Architecture + Engineering
- THA Consulting Inc. (parking)
- Shore Point Engineering
- Pennoni
DEI Awards
Rutgers University Newark Honors Living-Learning Community, Newark
- The RBH Group
- Perkins Eastman
- Rutgers University-Newark
Small Deal of the Year
The National (Montclair Speech Therapy), Montclair
- The Bravitas Group
- Sionas Architecture PC
- Jack Finn & Co.
- RHG A&D
- Spademan Metal Fabrication
Health care/Medical
The Helena Theurer Pavilion at Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack
- Hackensack Meridian Health
- Stantec
- Turner Construction Co. (JV-Blanchard Turner)
- WM Blanchard (JV-Blanchard Turner)
- RSC Architects
- Page Southlerland Page
- Syska Hennessy Group
- Concord Engineering
- Reuther+Bowen
- Langan
Affordable Housing
The Barclay Street Apartments, Paterson
- Joseph’s University Medical Center
- New Jersey Community Development Corp.
- New Jersey Community Capital
- Thriven Design
Hospitality/Entertainment
The Commissary at Baseline, Fort Monmouth/Oceanport
- Denholtz Properties
Mixed-Use
The District, Montvale
- Hekemian Group
- Lessard Design Inc.
- HLW
- L2A Land Design LLC
- Belle Contracting LLC
- Serious Work
- Beattie Padovano
- Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi PC
- Peak Environmental, A Nova Group Company
Industrial
100 Frontage Road, Newark
- Seagis Property Group
Residential
Wonder Lofts, Hoboken
- Prism Capital Partners
- Parkwood Development
- Angelo Gordon
Suburban Development
The Ivy, Chatham
- BNE Real Estate Group
- Bohler (Landscape Architect)
- Minno & Wasko Architects and Planners
Long-Term Adaptive Reuse
Bell Works, Holmdel
- Inspired by Somerset Development
- Ralph Zucker, president
New Jersey Development Project(s) of the Year
M Station and Valley Bank headquarters, Morristown
- SJP Properties
- Scotto Properties
- Gensler Morristown
