NEWARK-Brick City Development Corp. has completed the sale of the 105,000-square-foot South Ward Industrial Park site to food and dairy distributor Bartlett Dairy. The company now will relocate operations from various sites in New Jersey and Jamaica, NY to the South Ward, beginning with its Clifton, NJ location, in June. Some 175 jobs will come to Newark at that time, with more than 100 jobs over the next two to three years.

“Creating jobs is one of our top priorities,” says Lyneir Richardson, CEO of Brick City Development Corp. “The core of our work is focused on building a sustainable economy in Newark. This includes job creation, job retention and leveraging private and public investment to attract businesses that strengthen the economic base of the city.”

As part of the acquisition, Bartlett has agreed to a first-source hiring under which it will give priority to Newark residents for all openings. In addition to Newark residents at large, Bartlett will target job openings to participants in Mayor Corey Booker’s prisoner reentry program. “This is a great example of the type of partnerships we are attempting to create, which help to foster better relationships between employers and the community,” says Ingrid Johnson, chair of reentry initiatives for Newark.