NEWARK-Ground work has begun at the New Jersey Institute of Technology campus for a 600-bed residential complex for Honors College students, fraternities and sororities that are set to open in the fall of next year.
The $80 million Warren Street Village is the first phase of a 23-acre development plan, created over six years of cooperative effort by NJIT and a group of community institutions located in the downtown area that is known as the Gateway Development Project.
“To grow enrollment, attract high-achieving students and faculty and sustain a base of private support, we must continue to enhance the quality of campus life, the availability of amenities and services and the physical, social and recreational environment,” saYS NJIT president Joel S. Bloom, in a statement. “Enhancing the community that surrounds NJIT and campus life is key to NJIT’s growth and prosperity and this is what the Gateway Development Project is all about as well as the Warren Street Village.”
The 214,000-square-foot complex, situated within the triangle of Warren Street, Colden Street and Raymond Boulevard, will bring NJIT’s student housing capacity to 2,200 beds, an increase of 35 percent. Currently, the university is housing triples in double rooms and leasing off-campus space to meet demand. University enrollment will exceed 10,000 students by fall 2013, according to projections.
Warren Street Village will include 360 beds for Dorman Honors College students, computer labs, project studios, a library, student lounges, student government offices and guest apartments. The new Greek homes in the Village will include 5 duplex houses for fraternities and sororities.
“Our Greek students are among the most involved student groups on campus. The new housing will offer even more opportunity to hone leadership skills and increase networking and socializing opportunities,” says Bloom, founder and former dean of the Honors College.
There will also be a new restaurant, convenience store and fitness center for the University community at the Village complex.
NJIT’s Board of Trustees voted last month to finance the project by issuance of tax-exempt bonds to be repaid over the 30-year-term from rental income. It is expected that the bonds will be sold in mid-March.
A previous plan to partially finance the Warren Street Village using Urban Transit Hub tax credits fell through after state officials announced a temporary moratorium on such credits for residential projects last month.
“We want to see this kind of housing and community development, for the building trades jobs, and for a neighborhood that encourages 24/7 public, bicycle and pedestrian transit in proximity not only to NJIT but three other universities,” says Phil Beecham, a member of the NJIT Board of Trustees, in a statement. “We say it often, but maybe we don’t say it enough: Newark is a college town.”
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