NEWARK-Monday’s Newark Planning Board approval of the Greek Village student housing development along Raymond Boulevard here is the first step in creating a 24-hour district in the middle of the city’s University Heights area, says the project’s developers at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.
Greek Village is the first phase of the school’s larger four-phase, 10-year Gateway development. What is now a parking lot will be turned into five three-level duplexes to house 600 fraternity and sorority members, and a facility for the school’s honors program that also will include retail space. Construction will begin in March, with occupancy expected in September 2013.
The goal is to create “a mixed-use district with 24/7 activity,” Monique King-Viehland, president of Campus Gateway Development, tells GlobeSt.com. The for-profit corporation was created by NJIT to oversee the overall development. “It’s also designed to improve the image of the district.”
Greek Village is being developed by Monument LLC and designed by Agnew/Rincon. (Elkus-Manfredi is the master-planner for the entire Gateway project.) NJIT is contributing the 99-year ground lease and $8.275 million in capital contributions. Monument is now seeking approximately $56.6 million in financing, with bonds a likely component, King-Viehland says.
The project also will help ease a growing housing shortage. On-campus housing already is in short supply – a capacity of 1,663 beds had 1,695 deposits in fall 2011. By 2013, the University projects some 200 more residential students.
“NJIT has been working on this project for quite some time,” King-Viehland says. “To get to this point right now is the culmination of a lot of effort.”
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