May Newark LLC, an affiliate of Accurate Builders and Developers, purchased the former Bears Stadium in Newark for a proposed mixed-use development.
May Newark secured municipal council approval in April and completed the purchase May 26.
The development will be built in nine phases. What is currently a vacant site will eventually be, per the plan, around 4,200 residential units, 200 affordable units, up to 3,000 parking spaces, at least 100,000 square feet of hospitality and destination retail, coworking space, and publicly-accessible green space.
“The redevelopment of the 8-acre Bears Stadium site is the kind of transformative project that comes along only a few times in a generation,” said Mayor Ras Baraka in a prepared statement. “The additional housing, space for entrepreneurs and small businesses plus retail gets us closer to our goal of a vital, exciting, walkable 24-hour downtown. Additionally, the new construction training and apprenticeship component will open up well-paying union jobs for Newark residents and we will have made another giant step forward in our equitable growth strategy.”
A rendering for the proposed mixed-use development set to occupy the former Bears Stadium in Newark. – LESSARD DESIGN
Unlike a previously approved plan, the new development will be built under the city’s Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance, which helps accelerate the development of equitable economic and housing development in the city as it recovers from the pandemic.
Under the Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance, the project will incorporate 5% of the units in on-site affordable housing and a $15 million payment to the City Affordable Housing Trust Fund to produce new housing in neighborhoods outside of the downtown area.
In the developer’s new plan, May Newark committed to paying 10% of the construction costs at prevailing wages. Additionally, May Newark will create a training, retention and apprenticeship program for Newark residents to provide on-the-job training leading to apprenticeships with the goal of increasing enrollment of Newark residents in union jobs.
The developer will invest at least $2.7 million for building trades workforce training and retention which may be invested over each of the nine phases of the project, with a minimum of $300,000 in each phase, the announcement said.
