For one thing, the sky is now the limit for how much in tax credits the EDA can approve for the next six years while the EOA is in force. The old programs had limits on how much could be approved each year.

Since the act was approved Sept. 13, Lizura's board has been handing out sizeable awards for projects that were already in the pipeline—several of them for years. A planned $291-million apartment tower at Mack-Cali's Harborside Plaza, conceived in 2011, for example, got a $33-million 10-year tax credit approval in early October—and now work is supposed to begin on that project by the end of the year. The Jersey City tower, a joint venture with Hudson County apartment builder Ironstate Development, and the first of three planned towers, is a surefire investment, developers say, but could not be financed to launch without the incentive deal. It is eligible for such generous tax credits because it is situated in a state-designated Urban Transit Hub.

The super-carrot program does far more than add new funding for previous programs such as the state's UTH tax-credit arrangement, though. While that program has had proven impact in certain cities, legislators in suburban and rural districts that are not transit hubs have long aimed to establish a playing field tilted a bit more in their direction. (In the first years of Gov. Christopher Christie's administration, Newark was the biggest beneficiary of tax-credit funding. In the last round of funding, it was Jersey City.)

In consolidating five existing incentive programs into two—Grow New Jersey, and another known by the unlovely acronym ERG (Economic Redevelopment and Growth)—the EOA has enhanced the flexibility and strength of the state's business incentives, according to the fleet of consultants and attorneys who are still poring over its implications, but have been appearing at seminars in the last couple of months.

The EOA extends tax-incentive funding to every corner of the state and to projects which may be distinctly smaller or significantly larger than were previously eligible. It dispenses with funding caps—or lifts them higher—and reduces minimums on how much needs to be invested by a company for a project to qualify. It includes a wide array of “bonus” credits available for certain types of projects and locations.

On the inter-state level, the intent is to outdo the appeal of regions like eastern Pennsylvania, where land may be cheaper and taxes lower than in New Jersey. At the same time, the incentive program is shaped to compete with the higher-priced lure of Manhattan.

Before the ink was dry on the measure, state development authorities extended a $40-million tax credit offer to Destination Maternity as it considers whether to move from Philadelphia into Burlington County. In Newark, Prudential's home of 28 years, the Gateway Center, is being marketed as a “lower-cost alternative” to Manhattan corporations who can take advantage of significant tax incentives if they relocate there.

“Prudential received state-sponsored incentives, including transit-hub tax credits, to remain in Newark” and build a new tower a few blocks away, says Newmark Grubb Knight Frank's vice chairman and COO for New Jersey, David Simson. Even more significant tax credits may be available to assist landlords in attracting tenants to a renovated Gateway.

CBRE SVP Dudley Ryan says, “New tenants at 2 Gateway,” one of four towers in the complex, “will likely trigger enough bonus incentives to effectively occupy class A space rent-free for 10 years in one of the state's hottest markets.” Bonus credits are available to companies relocating in Newark because of its UTH status and also its high percentage of poor residents.

Growth Zones and Suburban Dinosaurs

The structures are old, built in 1972, but were renovated in 1992 and possess some of the most powerful systems and power grid available in the state, plus amenities including a cafeteria, fitness center, daycare center, conference center, parking and rooftop helipad.

Tahl Propp Equities, the landlord at 3 Gateway, also plans to renovate after Prudential's departure with redesigned lobbies, new elevator landings and bathrooms and upgrades to various systems. Within the state, the clear intent is to provide extra help to “raise up southern New Jersey,” which State Senate President Stephen Sweeney, who is from Gloucester, insisted throughout debate is only equitable after decades of feeding the lion's share of development carrots to developers in northern New Jersey. Projects launched in the eight southern counties—Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Ocean and Salem—are eligible for super-duper carrots: a bonus tax-credit of $1,000 per job on top of the base credit of $500 per job.

Also, the EOA designates four of the poorest cities—two in the north, Paterson and Passaic, and two in the south, Camden and Trenton—for incentives of truly rare proportions. As “Growth Zones,” any worthy project within their boundaries will get at least $5,000 in tax credits per job, through Grow NJ. That is 10 times the $500-per-job starting point for projects in northern and central New Jersey. Under the ERG program, projects in those four cities can get tax credits totaling up to 40% of total project cost, compared to 20% in other areas of the state.

“Forty percent, that's unprecedented,” said CBRE EVP Gualberto “Gil” Medina, a former state Commerce chairman who helped write previous incentives programs during Gov. Christine Todd Whitman's administration. “It won't happen in every case, or even happen often, but still, this is unprecedented, not just in this state, but for the region.”

Certain types of projects are available for 10% bonuses, which can be combined, including those that involve: a supermarket or healthy prepared-food seller in a community “where nutritious food is lacking;” health centers in distressed communities; disaster recovery projects (including those to create affordable housing where the stock has been reduced, as it has been along the shore, post-Superstorm Sandy); aviation or tourism destinations (in Atlantic City, conceivably, a project might be eligible as both a disaster recovery site and a tourism destination); or rehabilitation of an outmoded structure.

With the increasing number of “suburban dinosaurs”—behemoth office complexes that are mostly over 20 years old—being left behind by downsizing corporations, the beefed-up incentives may provide impetus for developers to tackle conversion efforts that would otherwise seem too daunting, consultants pointed out at a southern Jersey conference on the EOA. Incentive funding cannot by itself wash away resistance in suburban municipalities to adaptive re-use projects that bring large numbers of apartments and possibly school-age children. But developers are starting to wear down some of that resistance anyway in an era when upscale “renters-by-choice” are the new wave of apartment dwellers.

Somerset Development overcame the barriers of resistance after seven years of working with the residents of Holmdel and finally begun conversion of the 1.7-million-square-foot former “Bell Labs” site to a health and medical center, office and retail space, plus apartments and townhomes, last summer. Mack-Cali has just brought forth a plan for a mixed-use redevelopment of the former Pearson Education offices in Saddle River that includes 240 apartments. “We think we can work with the community to make this fly,” said Hersh.

In Trenton, local developer HHG will apply for EOA tax-credits that would provide enough funding to transform a vacant former steel factory into loft apartments and shops. The tax-credits can be sold to investors to provide “gap funding” for eligible projects, under the terms of the EOA.

The state's beleaguered office market really needs stimulating more than the multifamily housing market (with statewide occupancy at 97%, it's thriving) or the industrial market (which is doing so well that spec construction is back). To lure technology and start-ups to occupy office space in New Jersey, the EOA focuses in tight and small: Whereas the old UTH program required businesses create or keep 250 jobs minimum to qualify for tax credits, now 10 new jobs or 25 retained jobs are all that's required.

In the quest to attract big corporations, the EOA brandishes the ultra-carrot: a “mega-project” designation. A mega-project could get up to $30 million a year for 10 years in tax credits. To be designated “mega,” projects that involve logistics, manufacturing, energy, aviation, or defense or maritime businesses in port districts must entail a capital investment of at least $20 million and 250 jobs created or retained, or else 1,000 jobs created or retained. Also, projects within in UTH districts are eligible for “mega” status with a capital investment of at least $50 million and 250 jobs created or retained.

It's too soon for mega-projects to have emerged since the EOA was born in mid-September. There are a number already on the horizon that will likely be able to take advantage of its largesse, though. For instance, Brent Jenkins of LCOR, the co-developer of the planned three-million-square-foot, mixed-use Crossing at Hoboken Terminal, says securing mega-status for his company's project with the Port Authority has “positively delicious” potential to snag major tenants.