Posted: Feb 10, 2012, 11:15 AM
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New Yorker for life
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Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Borough of Jersey
Posts: 24,969
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...228484230.html
Viewing Newark as a 'Blank Canvas'
The groundbreaking of Teachers Village in Newark on Thursday.
Marshall Heyman
Feb 10, 2012
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Newark Mayor Cory Booker, Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, Eric Schmidt of Google and Nicolas Berggruen of Berggruen Holdings, were on site in Newark, N.J., Thursday for the groundbreaking of Teachers Village, a mixed-use development that will include three charter schools, more than 200 moderately priced apartments for Newark teachers and various retail establishments. Richard Meier, an architect who was born in Newark, devised the plan. The RBH Group is the lead developer.
Mr. Meier is also working with Mr. Berggruen, a major partner in this project, on the tallest residential tower in Tel Aviv as well as a group of houses in Turkey. Goldman Sachs is an investor in Teachers Village, and Mr. Schmidt is on the board of Mr. Berggruen's think tank.
For the last six years, Mr. Berggruen said he has been investing in land in downtown Newark. "It was a very prosperous and vibrant city 70 years ago, and then it came into a terrible decline," he explained, adding the proximity to Manhattan made the location particularly important. "Now Newark is like a blank canvas. You can, in essence, develop a new city. But we are starting from zero. No, less than zero."
"I love the idea of cities growing and renewing themselves," he said. "Nothing is more interesting than a city that's transforming and growing." This first phase of Newark's transformation encompasses 400,000 square feet; Mr. Berggruen said there is enough land to develop six million square feet. "It's not going to happen in a day," he said. "But this is the first step."
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http://therealdeal.com/blog/2012/02/...chers-village/
Newark breaks ground on $149M Richard Meier-designed Teachers Village
February 09, 2012
By David Jones
Quote:
The Richard Meier-designed complex will provide rental housing for more than 200 Newark teachers, will house three local charter schools and a local daycare and include more than 70,000 square feet of retail space for a range of businesses, including destination restaurants, medical offices, local merchants and national chain stores.
“In the end, vital cities are those that don’t close at five or six o’clock on weekdays,” Christie, the Newark-born politician and former Newark-based U.S. Attorney, told the hundreds of attendees.
The groundbreaking comes days after the city topped off the Courtyard by Marriott, Newark’s first new hotel in 40 years, part of a wave of development that will include the relocation of Panasonic’s North American headquarters to Newark, resulting in a deal to build a $190 million office tower in downtown.
“You’re really seeing Newark turn a major corner in terms of development, Newark Mayor Cory Booker told The Real Deal. “Here we are in a down economy and what you’re seeing is Newark surging forward.”
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