Financing for the hotly-anticipated New Brunswick Performing Arts Center has been secured.
Pennrose LLC, New Brunswick Development Corp., as well as the City of New Brunswick and County of Middlesex have finalized financing for downtown redevelopment at $171 million.
The project will add 207 apartments, as well as update New Brunswick’s Theater Arts Community to modern facilities, among many other renovations as reported by NJBIZ earlier this year.
CEO and Chairman for Pennrose, Richard K. Barnhart, said in a release that 20 percent of the new units have been set aside to be marketed as affordable and are intended for people involved in the arts.
“Our goal is to be able to provide to people who work behind the scenes to produce these performances the opportunity to live in some amazing apartments with connected access to where they work,” Barnhart said.
Construction of the project is ongoing and units are expected to be available by Summer 2019.
Upon completion, the development will deliver a 22-story, mixed-use building, a 462-unit theater, a 252-seat theater, 37,000 square feet of office space to be purchased by Middlesex County and Rutgers University.
“This will be an iconic development for New Brunswick and New Jersey adding a rich cultural center to an already established hub for the performing arts,” Barnhart said. “The cultural spaces and mixed-income apartments will expand Pennrose’s commitment to New Brunswick. Pennrose has developed more than 700 market-rate, student and affordable units that to date in New Brunswick.”
The development was also a New Jersey Economic Development Authority ERG tax credit recipient. Pillar Financial/Fannie Mae, Citibank, Investors Bank, Aegon and Rutgers University participated in the financing. 
