In Newark, N.J., the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) has broken grown on the three-year, $336 million redevelopment of its 12-acre campus.
The project will provide downtown Newark 350 mixed-income residential units, along with shops, restaurants, outdoor gathering spaces, and an education and community center with professional rehearsal spaces.
Scheduled for completion in fall 2027, the reimagined campus will include ArtSide, a mixed-use, mixed-income residential complex. Developed by NJPAC, LMXD, and MCI Collective, and planned and designed by Skidmore Owings & Merrill, ArtSide will offer 350 rental units, 20% of them affordable housing. ArtSide also will provide retail and cultural spaces, including a new home for public radio station WBGO. The project will extend Mulberry Street on what is currently an NJPAC parking lot.
Designed by Weiss/Manfredi, the 58,000-sf Cooperman Family Arts Education and Community Center will serve as a hub for students, artists, and community partners and will be built on another NJPAC parking lot.
NJPAC’s redesigned front yard, Chambers Plaza, and a new space, Essex County Green, will form an outdoor urban park. Future Green designed the new Chambers Plaza.
OCA Architects will design renovations of 31 Mulberry Street, a building that NJPAC recently acquired. The building will house more space for community gatherings, as well as educational and office spaces for NJPAC.
In addition, some of NJPAC’s interiors, along with its eastern façade and loading docks, will be redesigned.
“This initiative will not only provide more housing and commercial spaces, but also create vibrant cultural and educational opportunities that will enrich the lives of Newark residents for generations to come,” New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said in a statement.
The project’s partners include the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA), which granted the project $200 million in tax credits under the Transformative Aspire Program.
Since opening in 1997, NJPAC has welcomed more than 12 million visitors. It’s among the largest performing arts centers in the country.
Related Stories
Giants 400 | Nov 6, 2023
Top 65 Cultural Facility Construction Firms for 2023
Turner Construction, Clark Group, Whiting-Turner, Gilbane, and Holder Construction top BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest cultural facilities sector general contractors and construction management (CM) firms for 2023, as reported in the 2023 Giants 400 Report. Note: This ranking includes revenue from all cultural building sectors, including concert venues, art galleries, museums, performing arts centers, and public libraries.
Giants 400 | Nov 6, 2023
Top 60 Cultural Facility Engineering Firms for 2023
KPFF, Arup, Thornton Tomasetti, Tetra Tech, and WSP head BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest cultural facilities sector engineering and engineering architecture (EA) firms for 2023, as reported in the 2023 Giants 400 Report. Note: This ranking includes revenue from all cultural building sectors, including concert venues, art galleries, museums, performing arts centers, and public libraries.
Giants 400 | Nov 6, 2023
Top 110 Cultural Facility Architecture Firms for 2023
Populous, Gensler, HGA, DLR Group, and Quinn Evans top BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest cultural facilities sector architecture and architecture engineering (AE) firms for 2023, as reported in the 2023 Giants 400 Report. Note: This ranking includes revenue from all cultural building sectors, including concert venues, art galleries, museums, performing arts centers, and public libraries.
Performing Arts Centers | Oct 30, 2023
A long-delayed theater will soon open inside a popular Texas entertainment hub
Rayleigh Underground’s design mixes the latest technology with the sense of being in an excavated space.
Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2023
Top 115 Architecture Engineering Firms for 2023
Stantec, HDR, Page, HOK, and Arcadis North America top the rankings of the nation's largest architecture engineering (AE) firms for nonresidential building and multifamily housing work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2023
2023 Giants 400 Report: Ranking the nation's largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms
A record 552 AEC firms submitted data for BD+C's 2023 Giants 400 Report. The final report includes 137 rankings across 25 building sectors and specialty categories.
Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2023
Top 175 Architecture Firms for 2023
Gensler, HKS, Perkins&Will, Corgan, and Perkins Eastman top the rankings of the nation's largest architecture firms for nonresidential building and multifamily housing work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.
Performing Arts Centers | Jul 18, 2023
Perelman Performing Arts Center will soon open at Ground Zero
In September, New York City will open a new performing arts center in Lower Manhattan, two decades after the master plan for Ground Zero called for a cultural component there. At a cost of $500 million, including $130 million donated by former mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, the Perelman Performing Arts Center (dubbed PAC NYC) is a 138-foot-tall cube-shaped building that glows at night.
Performing Arts Centers | Jun 20, 2023
Designing arts spaces that curate inclusivity
GBBN's Julia Clements and Marcene Kinney, AIA, LEED AP, talk tips for designing inclusive arts spaces.
Museums | Jun 6, 2023
New wing of Natural History Museums of Los Angeles to be a destination and portal
NHM Commons, a new wing and community hub under construction at The Natural History Museums (NHM) of Los Angeles County, was designed to be both a destination and a portal into the building and to the surrounding grounds.
