Cogswell Realty Group is betting big on the notion that if you build it, buyers will come, even if they’re coming to the drug- and crime-ridden core of Newark.
Developer Arthur Stern’s vision of residential redevelopment for the city’s downtown seeks to draw young, hip and value-conscious buyers to the urban core at Eleven80. Cogswell’s new 35-story tower sits across the street from Seton Hall University Law School, a block from Gateway Center and Pennsylvania Station.
The luxury apartment tower is scheduled for February completion, after which Stern plans to start work on several new condominium and apartment complexes lining Broad Street across from Military Park. Stern said the end goal is to add 3,000 residential units to downtown Newark, as well as 200,000 square feet of retail space and 2,500 parking spots.
Revival of New Jersey’s largest city has been a fond hope for decades, ever since the former manufacturing center was ravaged by riots in the late 1960s, spurring a cycle of economic woe, white flight and urban poverty.
Recent steps to revive Newark include siting the New Jersey Performing Arts Center on the banks of the Passaic River in the late 1990s. Most recently, Newark’s downtown will be the location for the National Hockey League’s New Jersey Devils when the 2007 season begins, and boosters say a full-scale downtown revitalization is in the works.
Cogswell is one of the believers. The firm purchased the National Newark Building at 744 Broad Street several years ago, did extensive restoration and renovation, and recruited new businesses to fill its space. Tenants include the information management company LexisNexis.
Stern said prospective tenants at Eleven80 are the type of people who are eager to pioneer a residential renaissance.
“There is a segment of the population who is looking for the new hip thing,” Stern said of the demographic he is targeting. “They like when the eyebrows go up when they give their address.”
After Eleven80 is complete, Stern said the former Hanes Department Store building will be torn down for the next phase of development. The trio of new buildings will look like progressively rising steps in the revived skyline, he said. Stern also said he recruited architects who worked on Manhattan’s Bryant Park to redesign Military Park. The entire process is scheduled to be finished in seven years.
Eleven80 first started renting units last summer, but some apartment floors and amenity spaces are unfinished. The project is loaded with amenities, which Stern says helps attract his target demographic of young professionals. The doorman-staffed tower has a bowling alley, billiards room, lounge, massage therapist, health club, Pilates studio and basketball courts. It also offers parking and shuttle service to the train, airport and local universities.
Loading buildings in less-developed areas with lots of amenities to give residents all they need right at their fingertips is a strategy used in recent years in places like the Financial District and Long Island City.
Rents on the one-bedroom units average $1,500 a month, with $2,200 a month for a one-bedroom with den and $2,500 a month for a two-bedroom. Several duplex penthouses with terraces are set to open when the building is completed.
“It’s much more value than you’d get elsewhere,” Stern said of Eleven80. “When you look at the game plan for the building you have to offer something compelling.”
Much of Newark’s recent visibility has been generated by new Mayor Cory Booker, who took over in July from Sharpe James, a long-standing incumbent. Since Booker took office, Stern said he has seen more interest from other developers and the state in helping revitalize Newark. Booker has been praised for recruiting Deputy Mayor Stefan Pryor, the former president of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, to oversee economic development in the city.
Eleven80’s tenants average between 25 and 40 years old, with a few empty nesters. Many are originally from Manhattan and 34 percent are single women. Stern takes pride in the high number of single women in the building, saying they traditionally avoid unsafe neighborhoods.
Stern said he hopes to see more college students and medical residents move into the building. Newark is home to a campus and the law school of Rutgers University, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and the New Jersey Institute of Technology, along with several hospitals as well as Seton Hall’s law school. Estimates suggest 50,000 students and university staff work and study in Newark daily.
Stern noted that his biggest battle has been overcoming negative perceptions of Newark as a center of urban blight and high crime. In addition, many metro-area young professionals view the neighboring Hudson County communities of Hoboken and Jersey City as the Garden State’s best areas to live. Jersey City Councilman Steven Fulop, who represents the growing waterfront, touts his city’s growth rate and said it’s on pace to outgrow Newark by the end of the decade, a notion Stern disputes.
“Newark has reversed its population decline, and I think there will be significant population growth here,” Stern said. “What’s different to me with Newark and Jersey City is that Newark has long been an established city with a great cultural and higher education system. It’s got all the pieces, but it lacks the perception.”