Odd...
I have to admit I was suprised they were looking there as apposed to something closer to their existing building...especially with the comment about a "campus". Regardless I think a actually go on this would be huge.
If it is this lot, then where do you think the adjacent lot they are looking to acquire is located? Would it be a waterfront lot or maybe that big empty lot next to Seton Hall Law School? And, as much as I am for a new building, why should they get money to keep their employees here? I mean, they're already here. This might set a bad precedent as any company can threaten to move if they don't receive UTTCOriginally Posted by Marv95
From Run-Down to Renovated
Richard Perry/The New York Times
TreeTop Development has been rehabbing HUD buildings in Newark, like the ones at 17 Oxford Street.
By ANTOINETTE MARTIN
Published: September 29, 2011
Enlarge This Image
Richard Perry/The New York Times
Other HUD buildings in Newark, on Stratford Place, are still on the to-do list.
AS Mayor Cory A. Booker declared it would, this year has evolved into a “Year of New Construction”: projects worth a total of $700 million are under way, among them several corporate headquarters, downtown loft apartments, even new movie theaters.
Some housing rehabilitation work continues, too, although mainly on projects started before the spigots tightened on both public and private financing for residential construction.
Tucked in among all this revitalization are run-down areas, most glaringly subsidized rental buildings that have devolved into hot spots for crime and squalor. These buildings, owned by landlords who are paid rent directly through Section 8, the federal subsidy program, often want for “conscientious” maintenance, said Mike Meyer, the city’s director of housing and real estate.
Subsidized buildings are supposed to be maintained to standards set by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, but routine inspections are conducted only once a year. Many of the structures — built decades ago by HUD, which began selling some off in the 1980s — are now in extremely poor condition, Mr. Meyer said.
Adam Mermelstein, the principal of TreeTop Development — described by Mr. Meyer as a “stakeholder” in Newark’s residential future — agreed, saying, “Very frankly, it is frustrating.” TreeTop owns 1,100 market-rate apartments that it renovated over the last several years and maintains with a full-time management office at each of six sites.
“We put a lot of money into our two buildings on Martin Luther King Boulevard, for instance,” said Mr. Mermelstein, noting that TreeTop is among a handful of developers to have invested in rehabbing the boulevard near Lincoln Park (and that one even put up a high-end apartment tower). He said his company had “brought in nice professional and working-class tenants” to buildings repositioned to be “work force” housing.
Yet tenant turnover remains high at the rejuvenated buildings, Mr. Mermelstein said. The tenants, he said, “are uncomfortable with, or have fears about, what goes on at bad-apple HUD buildings on surrounding streets.”
Recently, he decided that at least one part of the solution might simply be to buy some of those bad apples and freshen them up, renovating them to the standards of TreeTop’s market-rate buildings. Management would be installed on-site to maintain standards.
Last spring, TreeTop bought a dilapidated rent-subsidy complex at 17 Oxford Street, a couple of blocks from Ferry Street, the popular restaurant haven in the Ironbound district. “The ceiling tiles were broken out,” Mr. Mermelstein said. “People were hiding bullets up there. The whole building was kind of smelly, and in trouble.”
TreeTop took out the dropped ceilings, put Sheetrock on the walls, installed new boilers, lighting and security devices, and hired city police officers for extra patrol duty.
“I would say it is 100 percent better,” said Jaime Figueroa, who has lived at the 258-unit Oxford Street complex for 10 years.
In July and August, TreeTop bought 230 units in two rent-subsidized buildings just west of Lincoln Park and south of University Heights, the neighborhood that envelops four academic institutions, including Rutgers University’s Newark campus and the New Jersey Institute of Technology.
At the 115-unit Willie T. Wright Apartments, a three-story garden-style complex built at 135 Prince Street in 1973, TreeTop has already begun work on $1.5 million worth of renovations.
At the Aspen Stratford Apartments on Stratford Place, a 1940s building in much tougher shape — no lock on the graffiti-covered front door, a broken intercom, garbage stacked high in an alley — TreeTop is to open a management office and start cleanup this week.
“This is not what anyone would consider a safe and decent place to live,” said Mr. Mermelstein on a visit to the Stratford building before the office opened, not speaking loudly enough to be overheard by three women and a child seated on the stoop, or a group of men standing on the corner. “I am confident we can make it that — and widen the circle around neighborhoods where change has already occurred.”
Mr. Mermelstein said he did not envision making any short-term profit with this work. (“The rent gets paid to the landlord either way,” was how he put it, “whether they run a building properly or not.”) The point is the longer-term investment, in the future value of the buildings he already owns, and in the reputation of his company, he said.
Mr. Meyer, the city housing director, says a couple of other companies now appear to be seeing investment in HUD properties as an opportunity. The Jonathan Rose Companies of New York recently bought 300 federally subsidized units in Newark, to rehab under a HUD program for “greening” affordable housing. And the Related Companies, a national firm, is “kicking the tires” on a purchase, he said.
Mr. Mermelstein said he hoped to buy two more buildings on the short block of Stratford Place and “consolidate the upgrade.” The street was the scene of a major narcotics seizure — $76,000 worth of heroin and cocaine — last May, after residents complained to the police.
The lot behind Seton Hall Law. Since it didn't mention the waterfront I doubt there's much room for a tower and a 1600 car garage on 21 but who knows?If it is this lot, then where do you think the adjacent lot they are looking to acquire is located? Would it be a waterfront lot or maybe that big empty lot next to Seton Hall Law School?
I hope its the lot between Mulberry st and the rail tunnel,by st joseph RCC and the Episcopal Archdioces. The lot behind Robert Treat Best Western is slated for The Dranoff Centre street residential tower. ......Unless Dranoff gets betrayed the way Cogswell was....Is Pru "bumping" dranoff??
intersting...
I couldn't help but wonder this or if they were taking the lot across the street or litterall right next to the NJPAC (between the light rail and pac there is a sufface parking lot that was eventually supposed to be developed). Regardless, the ideal seneario is to have two buildings go up over a 5-10 year period there which would anchor more trafic.
As for the Treetop buildings, I think the hard part is to overcome the reputation that the buildings already have and get a mix of non section 8 tennants. I can't think of many buildings that last long if the entire building relies on public subsidies with no medium income tennants.
I think they'd be eligible b/c in their application they said they'd create 400 extra jobs.
I agree, it will be hard to overcome the bad rep but I def think they'd need to start somewhere though. A area going to hell only seems to drag down the area around it.
Wheres the retail on the building to the right?
Last edited by Newarkguy; October 8th, 2011 at 05:02 PM.
Baxter park scaling back on retail?
Apparently renderings mean nothing! To the left baxter park is depicted as an exiting departure from usual government housing. complete with retail along the entire sidewalk area. TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE! OF COURSE!! Instead, the retail is gone ,except for the corners! Look at the first image, depicting stores with large windows along the sidewalk. Now, to the right, is whats REALLY being built!! cinder block walls with scattered residential type windows and doors ...at the sidewalk level. Gone are the large openings for retail facades. Typical! Newark Housing authority.
with the elimination of retail, its safe to say Baxter park will NOT be as these BS renderings depict. In fact, its IMPOSSIBLE to find ANY accurate image on the web about this place. BTW its taken over 6 months just to finish the foundation....currupt NHA & capitulating union thugs......
Last edited by Newarkguy; October 8th, 2011 at 04:50 PM.
Retail is one of the hardest hit sectors in this recession. It doesn't seem absurd that they would revise the development to mitigate any loss revenue from vacant retail space. I mean, this area isn't exactly downtown Newark - which itself isn't exactly a retailer's paradise. I don't know how strong demand for retail space in this area would be. As long as that component isn't completely gone, I don't think it's catastrophic or damaging to the character of this project. They also don't seem that far off track to me. It's slated for completion a full year from now. They should have it done by then. I can't comment on how accurate the renderings are, but if they resemble the renderings somewhat, then it should be an attractive development and a big boost to that area. I wish they had built these type of multi-family, mix-use structures during the real estate boom instead of those God-aweful Bayonne Boxes. Vast tracts of the Ironbound (along NJ RR Ave) could have been developed like this - and those could have all been market rate. Such short sightedness on the part of the city back then.
Some of my Newark pictures from Yesterday....
DSC07071 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr
DSC07073 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr
DSC07075 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr
DSC07077 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr
DSC07078 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr
DSC07079 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr
DSC07082 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr
DSC07084 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr
Newark Penn @ Night...
DSC07334 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr
DSC07333 by Nexis4Jersey09, on Flickr
Damascus Bakery Relocates from Brooklyn to Newark
By Debra Hazel
Damascus Bakery
NEWARK-Damascus Bakery has acquired the industrial building at 60 McClellan Street in the South Ward here for $3.5 million, says Brick City Development Corp.
The bakery creates and distributes pitas, roll-ups, wraps, and Panini flat breads to the retail and food service industry, including Costco and Garden of Eden, a gourmet NY-based grocer. Damascus, which is relocating from Brooklyn, NY, will bring more than 180 jobs to the city, and has committed to hiring Newark residents. The company will invest close to $1.2 million in site improvements and upgrades prior to an early 2012 opening. “We feed the region,” Lyneir Richardson, CEO of BCDC, tells GlobeSt.com.
BCDC worked with Damascus Bakery for almost three years to identify an ideal site with the proper transportation access. In addition to site location assistance, BCDC provided financial assistance, including facilitating an employment grant for job creation for Newark residents (up to $250,000) and funding for site improvements ($300,000). “They had very particular needs,” Richardson says. “We were just patient.”
According to Richardson, the Damascus project will also have an immediate impact on the neighborhood. The City approved the demolition of a blighted building directly across the street as part of the approval process.
The deal is the latest in a series of food-related businesses to lease or acquire distribution facilities in the city. Other recent deals including new headquarters buildings for The Manischewitz Company and Pacific Group Holdings (Bonita Bananas). In addition, Wakefern Food Corp. broke ground on a new 180,000-square-foot distribution center in August 2011. Bartlett Dairy is now operating out of its new 105,000-square-foot facility and will soon celebrate with a ribbon cutting in the South Ward.
“This has been a great year for us,” Richardson says. “We’re hoping for one or two more.”
This is an older version I posted of the above posted article. You can combine the info for clarity b/c scroll's posted article has new info
Brooklyn bakery decamps for increasingly food-friendly Newark
By Melinda Caliendo
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The city of Newark scored another coup in attracting new businesses Thursday, when Damascus Bakery Inc. signed a long-term lease to move its facility from Brooklyn, N.Y., to the southwest side of the city.
The third-generation bakery, through Sills, Cummis & Gross P.C., will move operations to 60 McClellan Ave. within the next few months. More than 180 full-time food manufacturing jobs will relocate to the city.
"We have been working with Damascus for three years, we're excited about the jobs," said Lynier Richardson, CEO of Brick City Development Corp. "It's interesting just because of the location they've selected — immediately there's going to be improvement in the neighborhood. We got approved to demolish a building across the street … when new companies come in, with new energy, new employees and new investments, ancillary development happens."
Damascus Bakery, which opened in Brooklyn in 1930, makes artisan flatbreads, wraps and panini bread.
"Food manufacturing is one of New Jersey's established and growing industries, and Damascus (Bakery) is a natural fit for this state," said Tracye McDaniel, president and CEO of Choose New Jersey, in an e-mail. "Its story is an inspirational one, and it's exactly the sort of business that will thrive in a state like New Jersey.
"We welcome the 180-plus full-time food manufacturing jobs it will bring to New Jersey, and we look forward to helping them continue to grow in our state."
It continues to build on Newark's rising reputation as a food manufacturer: Wakefern Food Corp. broke ground on a new distribution center in Newark on Aug. 3, and Manischewitz relocated its world headquarters to the city earlier this year.
"I think (it) really advances our momentum in the buildout of our industrial district with Manischewitz and Wakefern and Bartlett," said Adam Zipkin, chief of staff for the city's Department of Housing and Economic Development. "It says we've become a destination for these companies."
Richardson said the BCDC had been showing Damascus sites for several years for the company's expansion, but it took finding a building that met all the bakery's needs to get the deal done. Richardson said Damascus received Urban Enterprise Zone grant money for the relocation, as well as additional funds from the Economic Development Authority for machinery purchases and local hiring.
taken from nj.biz:
http://njbiz.com/article/20110909/NJ...riendly-Newark
Last edited by 66nexus; October 10th, 2011 at 01:40 PM.
Damascus Bakeries breaks ground on 100,000-square-foot site Newark building
By Melinda Caliendo
Another shovel went into the ground Monday in Newark, as Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Damascus Bakeries broke ground on a 100,000-square-foot facility.
The new building, which will open in the spring of 2012, is located at 60 McClellan St., where Brick City Development Corp. CEO Lynier Richardson said his agency took "several years" to find an appropriate tenant.
Richardson attended the event, alongside Newark Mayor Cory Booker; Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno; BCDC chairman and acting director of the city's Department of Economic and Housing Development, Adam Zipkin; and Damascus Bakeries owners Ed Mafoud and David Mafoud.
The facility continues to build on Newark's rising reputation as a food manufacturer: Wakefern Food Corp. broke ground on a new distribution center in Newark on Aug. 3, and Manischewitz relocated its world headquarters to the city earlier this year.
Damascus has said it anticipates employing roughly 200 people at the new facility. The company received Urban Enterprise Zone and other Economic Development Authority incentives to make the move to Newark.
taken from njbiz
I love the fact that Newark is stealing all these companies from NYC
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