NEWARK-Today’s likely New Jersey Legislature vote on urban tax credits could help boost downtown Newark as it also would allow the state to transfer the land around the New Jersey Performing Arts Center to the organization, says a report in the Newark Star Ledger.
Once the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, which owns the site, transfers it to the state for an unknown sum, the state could then give it to NJPAC. In turn, major NJPAC sponsor Prudential could then acquire part of the site for a planned office tower. Observers note that any activity that could boost one project could help downtown overall.
“Any growth just by virtue of growing the pie is a good thing for the city,” says Dudley Ryan, a senior vice president concentrating on urban markets at CBRE. “Pru has to commit to at least 400 new jobs, so [the benefit] is inherent.”
The NJ Economic Development Authority has approved Prudential’s application for up to $25 million in Urban Transit Hub Tax credits annually for 10 years for a proposed office facility. However, Prudential told GlobeSt.com at that time that the award of the tax credits may not necessarily mean a new building will be constructed. Prudential’s lease at Gateway Center expires in 2014.
“I’ve been around long enough to know that nothing is guaranteed,” Ryan says. “But inherently, it’s a good thing.”
NJPAC opened in 1997, one year after signing a 99-year lease with the state. One goal for the project was to spur downtown development, much as Lincoln Center revitalized Manhattan’s Upper West Side in the 1970s. That hasn’t happened to anywhere near the same degree--and it shouldn’t have been expected, says Ryan.
“To compare NJPAC to Lincoln Center is a little unfair. We don’t yet have the density of the Upper West Side,” Ryan says. “But we are progressing on the same trajectory, and it’s made immeasurable progress in the right direction.”
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