Jones Lang LaSalle
As James departs, all eyes are on developers
More investment expected, no matter who's the mayor
Sunday, April 09, 2006
BY MATTHEW FUTTERMAN
Star-Ledger Staff
It's the kind of story that many developers say has been typical of Newark for too long.
Two years ago, Newark Mayor Sharpe James and the City Council put the Housing Authority in charge of building the downtown arena, arguing the agency had 50 years of experience in redevelopment
As part of the deal, the authority was responsible for buying up the land where the arena would sit. By last July, little of the property had been acquired -- and with a deadline looming -- the team took over the job. Finally, in February, the city pulled the project from the Housing Authority and gave it to a newly created agency dedicated to overseeing development of Newark's downtown core.
No one has ever accused outgoing Mayor Sharpe James of lack ing enthusiasm for reviving his city.
But despite spurts of progress, many developers say a perception of incompetence and suspicions of corruption have kept more than a handful of builders from attempt ing the kind of large-scale investment that can reshape the city.
Now, with James leaving and the 36-year-old, Ivy-league educated candidate Cory Booker holding a large lead over his challenger, State Sen. Ron Rice as the May 9 election approaches, developers say the city is primed to spark interest from builders eager to take advantage of its location, mass transit and the momentum James has been able to generate.
"The city doesn't have the intellectual assets that can handle the level of development that needs to happen," said Chris Paladino, executive director of the New Brunswick Development Corp., a non- profit group that is one of the state's leading urban redevelopers. "There isn't a sophistication in planning, engineering and economic development that other cities have.
"But there is a template. They know what they want to accomplish and they have a running start."
Booker and Rice have been vague about their plans to stimulate development.
But a report released this week by the Newark Alliance, which is a consortium of business interests in the city, and the Boston-based Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, urged the city to focus its redevelopment efforts on four areas that take advantage of the city's exist ing resources: transportation and distribution, health services, education and entertainment.
The goal is to change a troubling statistic: Just 25 percent of the jobs in Newark are held by city residents and the city of 250,000 has 77,400 people out of work.
Among the recommendations:
Promote Newark as a place for high-tech businesses and provide help for startups.
Create a visitors and conven tion bureau.
Train Newark residents for jobs in the tourism industry.
Expected improvements from a new administration, meanwhile, run the gamut from the small to the sublime. Major property owners say in the past their quarterly tax bills arrived three to five months late. Inspections and permitting have been sporadic and unpredictable.
Others expect Booker or Rice, both of whom declined to comment, to attract the best and the brightest minds in urban policy and create a national buzz about the state's largest city.
While those expectations may seem lofty, they illustrate the excitement of a development community eager for change.
"There will be new interest in Newark because there are many people who have shied away and don't realize the difference between the perception and the reality," said Joe Romano, principal with Accordia Realty Ventures, a developer based in West Orange.
Richard Monteilh, the city's business administrator who often leads Newark's redevelopment efforts, called the criticisms unfair. He said the city has cleaned up va cant, trash-strewn lots and made major progress in recent years at tracting construction.
He cited the arena project, Cogswell Realty's construction of a luxury apartment complex at Broad Street and Raymond Boulevard, thousands of new homes in the city's outlying neighborhoods, new dormitories for four universities and plans for a condominium complex on Mulberry Street.
Monteilh, whose future in city government is up in the air, said the core of the strategy was to re verse years of population decreases and attract more retail and commercial development, and that it takes time.
"Retail follows people, and in dustry follows smart people, which is why cities like Boston and Atlanta have done well recently," Monteilh said. "Anyone with a brain believes Newark will succeed. You'd have to be a fool to miss that."
To many, Monteilh symbolizes the best and worst of the James administration.
He gets terrific reviews from the development community, but he is essentially a one-man economic development office and the point man on nearly every big project.
The problem is, that's not actually his job. His focus is supposed to be on the city's finances. But developers say he is the only major figure in city government who has cultivated their trust.
Despite those numbers, Richard Charles, a real estate broker with CB Richard Ellis whose prac tice is focused on Newark, said a new administration can create a national buzz simply by creating a more civil atmosphere -- with cleaner streets, less crime and the goal of making the city more friendly to outsiders.
"Newark has been misunderstood for a long time, not just with this administration but going back really to the 1967 riots," said Greg Senkevitch, chief operating officer of Advance Realty of Bedminster, which owns a portion of the Gateway complex near Penn Station. "Any time there is a change after someone has been in office for a while, it is perceived as good. It shakes things up."
Even Monteilh acknowledged the next administration may make more tangible progress in development than James has.
"Every time you have a kid, there is no guarantee you're going to be able to walk it down the aisle," he said. "That's life. But if you know the baby is safe and the future looks good, that means it was as good a time as any for Sharpe to step aside."
As James departs, all eyes are on developers
More investment expected, no matter who's the mayor
Sunday, April 09, 2006
BY MATTHEW FUTTERMAN
Star-Ledger Staff
It's the kind of story that many developers say has been typical of Newark for too long.
Two years ago, Newark Mayor Sharpe James and the City Council put the Housing Authority in charge of building the downtown arena, arguing the agency had 50 years of experience in redevelopment
As part of the deal, the authority was responsible for buying up the land where the arena would sit. By last July, little of the property had been acquired -- and with a deadline looming -- the team took over the job. Finally, in February, the city pulled the project from the Housing Authority and gave it to a newly created agency dedicated to overseeing development of Newark's downtown core.
No one has ever accused outgoing Mayor Sharpe James of lack ing enthusiasm for reviving his city.
But despite spurts of progress, many developers say a perception of incompetence and suspicions of corruption have kept more than a handful of builders from attempt ing the kind of large-scale investment that can reshape the city.
Now, with James leaving and the 36-year-old, Ivy-league educated candidate Cory Booker holding a large lead over his challenger, State Sen. Ron Rice as the May 9 election approaches, developers say the city is primed to spark interest from builders eager to take advantage of its location, mass transit and the momentum James has been able to generate.
"The city doesn't have the intellectual assets that can handle the level of development that needs to happen," said Chris Paladino, executive director of the New Brunswick Development Corp., a non- profit group that is one of the state's leading urban redevelopers. "There isn't a sophistication in planning, engineering and economic development that other cities have.
"But there is a template. They know what they want to accomplish and they have a running start."
Booker and Rice have been vague about their plans to stimulate development.
But a report released this week by the Newark Alliance, which is a consortium of business interests in the city, and the Boston-based Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, urged the city to focus its redevelopment efforts on four areas that take advantage of the city's exist ing resources: transportation and distribution, health services, education and entertainment.
The goal is to change a troubling statistic: Just 25 percent of the jobs in Newark are held by city residents and the city of 250,000 has 77,400 people out of work.
Among the recommendations:
Promote Newark as a place for high-tech businesses and provide help for startups.
Create a visitors and conven tion bureau.
Train Newark residents for jobs in the tourism industry.
Expected improvements from a new administration, meanwhile, run the gamut from the small to the sublime. Major property owners say in the past their quarterly tax bills arrived three to five months late. Inspections and permitting have been sporadic and unpredictable.
Others expect Booker or Rice, both of whom declined to comment, to attract the best and the brightest minds in urban policy and create a national buzz about the state's largest city.
While those expectations may seem lofty, they illustrate the excitement of a development community eager for change.
"There will be new interest in Newark because there are many people who have shied away and don't realize the difference between the perception and the reality," said Joe Romano, principal with Accordia Realty Ventures, a developer based in West Orange.
Richard Monteilh, the city's business administrator who often leads Newark's redevelopment efforts, called the criticisms unfair. He said the city has cleaned up va cant, trash-strewn lots and made major progress in recent years at tracting construction.
He cited the arena project, Cogswell Realty's construction of a luxury apartment complex at Broad Street and Raymond Boulevard, thousands of new homes in the city's outlying neighborhoods, new dormitories for four universities and plans for a condominium complex on Mulberry Street.
Monteilh, whose future in city government is up in the air, said the core of the strategy was to re verse years of population decreases and attract more retail and commercial development, and that it takes time.
"Retail follows people, and in dustry follows smart people, which is why cities like Boston and Atlanta have done well recently," Monteilh said. "Anyone with a brain believes Newark will succeed. You'd have to be a fool to miss that."
To many, Monteilh symbolizes the best and worst of the James administration.
He gets terrific reviews from the development community, but he is essentially a one-man economic development office and the point man on nearly every big project.
The problem is, that's not actually his job. His focus is supposed to be on the city's finances. But developers say he is the only major figure in city government who has cultivated their trust.
Despite those numbers, Richard Charles, a real estate broker with CB Richard Ellis whose prac tice is focused on Newark, said a new administration can create a national buzz simply by creating a more civil atmosphere -- with cleaner streets, less crime and the goal of making the city more friendly to outsiders.
"Newark has been misunderstood for a long time, not just with this administration but going back really to the 1967 riots," said Greg Senkevitch, chief operating officer of Advance Realty of Bedminster, which owns a portion of the Gateway complex near Penn Station. "Any time there is a change after someone has been in office for a while, it is perceived as good. It shakes things up."
Even Monteilh acknowledged the next administration may make more tangible progress in development than James has.
"Every time you have a kid, there is no guarantee you're going to be able to walk it down the aisle," he said. "That's life. But if you know the baby is safe and the future looks good, that means it was as good a time as any for Sharpe to step aside."
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 3:48 PM
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