Tuesday, July 5, 2016

154 Apartments Coming to Site of Newark's Brick Towers


Newark, New Jersey: Newarkers could soon be living at the site of Brick Towers again.

The Newark Central Planning Board decided last month to extend the site plan approval for the Montgomery Heights II development at 685-718 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, between Spruce Street and Montgomery Street. According to a legal notice, Montgomery Two Housing Urban Renewal is planning to create a new development at the site with 154 residential units and 7,500 square feet of ground floor retail space at the site. Pennrose Properties, based in Pennsylvania, is the property developer.

The project is receiving a 30-year tax abatement from the City of Newark, though The Newark Housing Authority's 2016 annual plan stated that the project still "is in the development pipeline".

Brick Towers consisted of two 16-story buildings dating to 1969 which were owned by the Newark Housing Authority from 2002 until they were demolished in 2008. Senator Cory Booker was a resident shortly before the buildings were demolished.

Shortly after the Brick Towers complex was demolished, construction on Pennrose's first Montgomery Heights development began on a vacant lot across Montgomery Street under the slogan "Restoring the Grandeur of High Street", referring to the boulevard's previous name. Today, that property consists of 80 residential units and a pharmacy.

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