Is it finally showtime for stalled $116M NJPAC development deal?

The show has been on hold for a decade, but the curtain may finally be rising on a long-delayed $116-million development project that will expand the footprint of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.

NJPAC officials said the project known as One Theater Square, a complicated residential and retail development deal that had been stalled for years, is finally back on track. They said all the financial arrangements closed last week.

"NJPAC and One Theater Square will be at the heart of a new Newark," said NJPAC CEO John Schreiber. "When One Theater Square opens in the summer of 2018, it will be the hub of a neighborhood that has grown up around NJPAC."

The project was first proposed in 2005 by former NJPAC president and CEO Lawrence P. Goldman, who outlined a plan for a new arts community of shops, cafes and residential apartments around the arts center in downtown Newark, not far from Penn Station.

Initial plans depicted a 28-story building featuring 30,000 square feet of retail space, 640 parking spaces and 250 rental apartments that would include artists' studios eligible for federal tax credits.

By 2010, the concept had grown into a $190 million project that included a 44-story tower, 328 residential rental units, a pool and a spa. It was called a "game changer" for the state's largest city.

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Newark declared the site adjacent to the Robert Treat Hotel as part of a redevelopment zone. Dranoff Properties of Philadelphia, which built a high-rise near the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia and converted the historic RCA Victor factory on the Camden waterfront into luxury loft apartments, was selected as the developer. The state approved $38 million in tax credits.

But the ambitious project, impacted by the economic downturn, never got off the ground, hobbled by financial difficulties as well as questions over its economic feasibility, along with an approaching deadline on the state tax credits that were deemed critical to the financing arrangements.

Now, after a series of false starts, NJPAC officials say workers are back on the site and a groundbreaking will soon be scheduled.

A spokeswoman said Theater Square Development Co., a NJPAC subsidiary, has taken title to the land and executed a ground lease with Dranoff. She said financing closed last week.

The financial partners include the city of Newark; the state of New Jersey; Prudential Financial; Fifth Third Bank; the developer and NJPAC.

The current plan now envisions a smaller, 22-story project on 1.2 acres across from NJPAC and Military Park, calling for 245 residential units of mostly 1- and 2-bedroom apartments, as well as studios and 2-bedroom and 3-bedroom units, ranging in size from 585 to 1,700 square feet. Rents are expected to start at $1,250 for a studio, $2,000 for 1-bedroom, $3,150 for a 2-bedroom and $4,500 for a 3-bedroom.

The project will include 24 affordable housing units marketed as artist residences, although they will be available to anyone who meets the financial criteria. The ground floor will contain 12,000 feet of retail space for shops and restaurants.

"This is to be a complete live-work-shop-and-play community," said Carl E. Dranoff, CEO of Dranoff Properties.

Source: NJ.com