East Orange site approved for residential development sells for $4.15M

A site in East Orange that was previously approved for a mixed-use development with more than 100 units has a new owner.

CBRE arranged the sale of the Hue Soul project site located at the corner of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and South Burnet Street in the Essex County municipality for $4.15 million, the firm announced Jan. 25.

A team led by Vice Chairman Jeff Dunne, Vice President Stuart MacKenzie, First Vice President Eric Apfel, and Senior Financial Analyst Travis Langer represented the seller, Jersey City-based Novus Landmark East Orange Urban Renewal LLC, and procured the buyer.

Hue Soul is a planned mix of studio, one- and two-bedroom units with an interior amenity room and exterior amenity deck.

Last December, the City of East Orange approved an ordinance allowing the sale of the project to South Burnet Holdings Urban Renewal LLC and authorized the assignment of the redevelopment agreement it had with Novus to the buyer. An amendment to that agreement was also approved.

Among other changes, according to the ordinance, the amendment updated the number of residential units to 116 from 113 and increased the commercial component from 3,560 square feet to 8,202 square feet. Additionally, the building height – originally five stories – is now six, following the elimination of previously planned automated parking spaces at the property. The total number of parking spots was updated to 120.

The Hue Soul site is walking distance to both the Brick Church and East Orange train stations, with direct access to Manhattan (under 30 minutes) and the Newark Broad Street Station (approximately five minutes).

“The site offers excellent access to major employment centers in Newark to the east and Livingston, Roseland, Parsippany, Florham Park, and Morristown to the west,” Dunne said in a statement. “The immediate neighborhood, now called the Arts and Cultural District, is slated for a major transformation in the next 18 months, further attracting residents.”

Other developers have experienced success in East Orange, recently. At the end of 2022, Newark-based Blackstone 360 said its second-tower expansion at Indigo 141 in the city was 50% pre-leased when it received its Temporary Certificate of Occupancy in December. That same month, the firm’s Allure 258 property achieved 75% occupancy.

A month prior, work got underway on the largest development in the city’s history — the $500 million transit-oriented The Crossings at Brick Church Station.