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Over the last 2 years Newark seen a Massive amount of Urban Reinvestment in its Downtown Core. Whether its older warehouses and buildings being renovated into lofts or apartments or older 3 story buildings being renovated into mixed use retail with apartments on the upper floors. Over the last 7 months things have really heated up with construction on the New Prudential Headquarters topping out and a New Cablevision call center high rise breaking ground. Whole Foods , Chipotle , Several Burger joints are opening up by the Fall... Over the last few weeks i've been documenting the various changes to Newark.... There will be a Downtown Thread , Ironbound thread and Passaic / Port Thread...the last thread won't be posted till mid July as I have yet to take the River tour yet. As I take New Downtown Photos from now on I'll just place them in this thread...unless its a specific event. I do plan on redoing Forest Hill and University Heights over again.
Ive decided to post my Photos on this site again after a Hiatus of a year and half. If you want to learn the Photo details , click on the photo and it will link back to my Flickr account. If you want to share any of my photos on twitter or facebook , use the link button on the photo as it will create a portal back to the photo where you post it to properply credit me. If your posting on forums use BBCODE and post the photo... The BBCODE continues a URL that hangs under my photo which credits me. DO NOT HOT LINK my photos...
Military Park
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Prudential Second HQ's High Rise
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Future site of Whole Foods , Apartments and Rutgers Dorms
Nice pics! I Googled that 'Hahne & Company' building and that company went out of business 26 years ago! Good to see they are revitalizing it with new stores and residential space.
Who is really willing to be there money that "They will come, if we build it"?
What evidence are they going by to justify their investments?
Are people really leaving the burbs and moving back into cities?
What is changing in our society that is may or may not cause a shift back into the downtown of cities?
Theres census data , Newark is abit different in that most people moving to the Downtown were priced out of Jersey City & New York City. I don't think your seeing many suburban kids move to Newark just yet , but they have started moving to Harrison. As for Society , you have 2 Generations who don't want to live in the suburbs anymore...the younger generation and the older retired generation so cities are seeing massive reinvestment. Its not city wide in most cases and tends to be in one section , usually Downtown or an area near Water. Downtown's tend to be easier to invest and usually have some amenities like Parks or a public Square that can be used for various events along with having that Live , Work , Play vibe. In some cities it's causing issues like a housing shortages in cities like Boston , Seattle , DC and San Francisco...and the neglected infrastructure can't keep up with demand in some regions.... But both these issues will short themselves out , the market needs to catch up with all the demand.
Higher density living means fewer car trips, more efficient utility networks, and overall more sustainable living. Trends towards higher density aren't just in cities but rail towns and even the town center redevelopment around suburban shopping centers. Newark ' s growth is a part of that trend
What's needed now is a reversal of anti city policies at the federal and state levels.
Sometimes, when you are talking about re-development, modernization, and so on -- there's a "I wouldn't consider it, so no one else will" mentality. Yet, the world is different strokes for different folks.
There has been a lot of money spent in Newark, and not all of it is to get people to move there. There is plenty of different motivations, goals, objectives, etc. and in my opinion Newark is greatly improved and has a great deal more to offer than before. I like what's been going on and I hope there is more of it.
Well a few of the recently completed apartment buildings have fully been leased out or are quickly approaching that limit. Finding retail tenants is the easiest and so far most newer businesses are getting decent foot traffic. There are plans for a University Heights Investment plan which would fill up most of lots near Rutgers and Newark Broad and then theres a Plan in the Downtown to do the same. Both plans are gaining traction...elsewhere there are plans to fill up the Ironbound and up in the North Ward. The 3 Most stable areas of Newark are getting all the redevelopment...but I think 10 years from now the South and West Wards will get some of that investment. The return isn't as fast in those areas for obvious reasons as it is in Downtown. The Spill over from Jersey City is picking up...so I think will see an high speed pace in a few years.... The Same thing that is happening in Downtown Brooklyn which is slightly similar to Downtown Newark.
Phase 3 of the Downtown Plan , Phase 1 is complete and leased out , Phase 2 is under construction...Phase 3 will break ground in a few years..
One Theater SQ which will break ground later this year
Who is really willing to be there money that "They will come, if we build it"?
What evidence are they going by to justify their investments?
Are people really leaving the burbs and moving back into cities?
What is changing in our society that is may or may not cause a shift back into the downtown of cities?
You can do an Internet search and find plenty of recent news articles and studies covering the population shifts back into urban areas. New York City, San Francisco, Boston, Atlanta, and so forth are all seeing not only "white flight" cease but a reversal as persons of all ages, races, genders, sexual preferences, and so froth are seeking to move back into the nation's large urban areas.
Newark, NJ with good transportation infrastructure and being close to Manhattan, NYC should have taken off years ago, but had to and still has issues that need sorting such as high crime rates.
To some extent this rebirth of many of the nation's world class cities such as New York are the results of work and plans begun back in the 1980's to deal with the issues that drove whites and many others out of cities. Crime, filth, and those sort of things. Walking around say Times Square today is nothing like it was back in the 1980's. You watch 1970's films like "Death Wish" that showed cities basically as dens of crime and violence. Persons came in to do what they had to do and got the heck out of Dodge so to speak.
Today not only are the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of those that once fled cities returning, but many older persons as well want to live in urban areas. Many seniors find living in these newly cleaned up cities as exciting and vibrant as young persons do. To them it beats being stuck in a house somewhere in the "country" without much to do, and often what activities there are require driving or finding someone to drive.
Finally and sadly across the country jobs are becoming scarce in rural/country areas especially as manufacturing dries up in the USA. Many small towns and even suburbs were built around one or two main businesses. Once they go belly up so does the local economy. With no jobs locally young persons simply have no choice but to pack up and move.
Getting back to Newark from what one understands one problem with development is putting together lots large enough for say residential projects. This his because much of it is still zoned for commercial/manufacturing use and or the way former plant sites are it can be hard to assemble. Probably one of the good things to do would be some sort of "urban renewal" scheme where land is simply squired by eminent domain, but that would probably stir up a hornet's nest of trouble.
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