Tuesday, September 15, 2015

2 Gateway Center Has a New Lobby


Newark, New Jersey: One Downtown Newark office building has changed significantly within the past year. 2 Gateway Center, located at the corner of Market Street and Route 21/McCarter Highway, has seen the openings of The Gateway Project art gallery and the Agnes Varis Studio of NJTV News. Now, according to an email sent by a C&K Properties representative to Essex County Place, the building has a new lobby for the 15,000 people who pass through the complex daily. There is free wi-fi, a Cotidiano coffee bar and cafe, and seating areas. A spokesperson said that "the building is becoming not only a unique place to work, but a symbolic 'gateway' to the city of Newark".

However, the complex has often been criticized for seeming like its own city within a larger city. There are few stores on the street level of the Gateway Center buildings. Most stores and restaurant in the complex are located inside the buildings on the second floor. 1, 2, 3, and 4 Gateway Center are connected to each other and Newark Penn Station by skybridges. A report by The Newark Metro of Rutgers-Newark compared the construction of the Gateway Center in the 1970s to the rise of "fear architecture" in urban areas that had experienced riots or uprisings. A report by The Manhattan Institute said that the buildings of the complex were similar to "fortress-like towers", calling Newark "a living laboratory for nearly every bad planning idea of the 20th century".

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