$3 million USEDA grant to boost manufacturing, entrepreneurship in Kearny opportunity zone

Gabrielle Saulsbery//May 16, 2019//

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Rendering of Kearny Point. – HUGO NEU CORP.

A $3 million United States Economic Development Administration grant designated to Hackensack Avenue in Kearny is expected to create 7,000 jobs and generate $1 billion in private investment, the administration announced Thursday.

The grant will support Kearny Point, a private 130-acre light manufacturing, office, and entrepreneur space that will contain two million square feet of space in five buildings. Kearny Point is located in a Tax Cuts and Jobs Act designated opportunity zone, which provides incentives to further private sector participation and development in economically distressed areas.

“The added investment incentive provided by the Opportunity Zone program, coupled with the Commerce Department grant, will attract new business to Kearny’s new manufacturing, office, and entrepreneur space, and generate economic opportunity throughout the region,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross in a statement.

The investment will be matched in $1.3 million in local funds.