The year 2011 was a “watershed” in the evolution of New Jersey’s largest city, said Lyneir Richardson, the chief executive of Newark’s development arm, the Brick City Development Corp. There is now $700 million worth of development underway and another $1 billion in the pipeline, Richardson said.

“Newark’s comeback is very real,” the development chief added during the presentation at the Newark Club called "The Branding of Newark as a Destination for Business,” which was held in April.

Panasonic’s announcement last fall that it would relocate its North American headquarters to Newark was a coup, Richardson noted, “and we plan to build on that momentum.” Richardson described a multi-year plan to market sites for development, from groundbreaking to lease-signing. “Our time is now,” he added, “and my job is to make the phone ring.”

Richardson said that economic redevelopment in Newark is about more than filling office buildings. “That includes everything from new grocery stores to hotel development,” he said. The Marriott Hotel under construction downtown will be the first new hotel in Newark in 38 years.

The “amenity mix” is growing richer with new restaurants opening around the Prudential Center Arena, and the Teachers Village project underway. Teachers Village will include residences, services, and a home for academic programs for the city's teachers.

Tom Sullivan, CEO of Princeton Partners, who was also on the panel, said the 40,000 students who attend college in the one square mile of Newark’s University Heights section, amount to one of its chief assets. “The academic names are well-known—Rutgers, Seton Hall, NJIT and UMDNJ, but the student population is not yet integrated into the city,” Sullivan said

Sullivan noted that Newark has much to crow about in its marketing campaign. Quoting the findings of a Minnesota think-tank, Sullivan said Newark is a walkable, sustainable venue, and the top city in the country for industry “adding value.”

“This is also a team effort to communicate Newark’s message with commercial real estate brokers,” said Madelyne Kirch, president of Sun & Moon Marketing Communications, another panel member. She said that includes New York brokers. “The message is that Newark is an alternative to Manhattan."

“We polled senior brokers in New York and found that this information just wasn’t crossing the Hudson,” Kirch said. “There was a lack of familiarity about what is going on here.”