Newark, New Jersey: A Newark-based company which has torn down several buildings to make way for parking lots may be planning to convert an existing building into a new development.
Edison Properties, which owns the ParkFast chain of parking lots, has created a website regarding its plans for the 109-year-old Newark Warehouse Company Building, also known as the Central Graphic Arts Building at 98-126 Edison Place. The building, located at the corner of McCarter Highway near Newark Penn Station and the Gateway Center, will be located alongside the new Triangle Park, which will connect the Prudential Center with the Ironbound.
“Triangle Park could be a very important exciting thing as the center of activity in Newark", Edison Properties owner Jerry Gottesman told NJBIZ.
The website shows plans for a sports complex, office and retail space in the existing building, and shows ten floors of residential space that could be built on top of it.
"The Newark Warehouse Co. will be the future home of residential and office suites, arts and entertainment venues, retail businesses and restaurants", the website states, adding that "we are bringing all of these entities under one roof to foster a healthy, urban vibe in Newark and help the city attract young professionals looking for a 'cooler' alternative to Hoboken and Jersey City – with better transportation options".
NJ Parcels reports that an organization registered to the same address as Edison Properties acquired the building for $7,000,000 from the Berkowitz Company in 2014.
Over the years, Edison Properties has demolished many buildings across the City of Newark. In 2013, the company tore down the former TAP Air Portugal Building on Market Street, which was where the Children's Museum of New Jersey was slated to open. A ParkFast lot sits at the site now. In addition, Barry Carter of The Star-Ledger has reported how the company has expanded parking lots without permission of the Newark Zoning Board of Adjustment.
Across Edison Place from the warehouse, another new development could be coming. Signs posted at 769-781 McCarter Highway advertise that up to 500,000 square feet of mixed use retail and office space could be coming to the site of a parking lot, which sits at the corner of Market Street. The property was sold by the Newark Housing Authority to Newark Plaza Urban Renewal, which is located within the same address as Boraie Development, in 2012.
Edison Properties and Boraie Development have not responded to several requests for comment.
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