First Newark hotel in 40 years breaks ground

Newark’s first new hotel in close to four decades — a Courtyard by Marriott adjacent to the Prudential Center — broke ground yesterday and is slated for completion by the summer of 2012.
Mayor Cory Booker was on hand to celebrate, alongside the National Hockey League’s New Jersey Devils, who call the Prudential Center home, and Tucker Development, which is heading up the project. The Prudential Center, affectionately known as “the Rock,” opened in 2007 and hosts some 200 events per year. It’s also temporarily home to the Nets basketball team as they await the completion of their Barclays Center arena in Atlantic Yards. The new project will include around 14,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space in addition to hotel rooms. “When global hospitality organizations like Marriott bring their hotels to our city, it shows that the world’s leading companies believe in our city and our residents,” Booker said. TRD