Performing Arts Center Breaking Ground on Newark Housing

An unlikely player is behind a massive development project aiming to deliver a bundle of residential and retail space to Newark.

The New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark is breaking ground on a mixed-use retail, housing and arts hub adjacent to its home base at 1 Center Street, the New York Times reported. Officials will be holding the groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday.

The project consists of 350 apartments (70 affordable), stretched out between two multifamily buildings and 15 townhomes, plus ground-floor retail. A billionaire philanthropist is also partly funding a community center to be built across the street and Newark’s public jazz station will have new headquarters space.

Performing Arts Center Breaking Ground on Newark Housing — Renders of plans for 1 Center Street in Newark NJ (NJPAC)

Plans for the development, known as ArtSide, have been percolating for six years, but were delayed by the pandemic before a big tax incentive started things moving in the right direction again. The New Jersey Economic Development Authority approved almost $200 million in tax credits to support the project; the tax break is part of the cause of the affordable housing outlay.

LMXD, an affiliate of L+M Development Partners, is the lead developer of the project, according to Real Estate New Jersey.

Ultimately, the goal of the project is twofold: reinvigorate the area and generate profit for NJPAC to reinvest in itself and the arts.

“It helps us to change the center of gravity in Newark,” Newark Mayor Ras Baraka told the Times.

The project could also prove precedent-setting for arts centers across the country, which are seeking novel revenue streams as government funding and donations wane.

This is NJPAC’s third commercial development. The nonprofit also led the creation of One Theater Square, a 22-story, 245-unit mixed-use building, and is working with Lionsgate on an expansive soundstage project.

ArtSide and the soundstages are expected to generate $120 million in profit for NJPAC in 10 years.

— Holden Walter-Warner