Matrix Development advancing its latest Newark project

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Matrix Development Group is moving ahead with its plans for a mixed-use development on a waterfront site adjacent to the Newark Legal Center and Panasonic’s North American headquarters, the firm’s top executive said Wednesday.Joseph S. Taylor, CEO and president of Matrix, said the firm “is going through the planning process now” for a project whose first phase could include 220 residential units, a full-service hotel and underground parking at the 5-acre site. He said the firm expects to have applications into city officials by sometime in the second quarter.

“We’re hoping to be in the ground by this time next year,” Taylor said, starting with the parking component.

The head of the Cranbury-based firm spoke to NJBIZ after the annual real estate forecast event hosted by the Newark Regional Business Partnership.

Earlier, he was among several panelists who were especially bullish on Newark’s renaissance, as a host of residential and commercial development continues in the city.

During a panel discussion, Taylor said roughly 30,000 rail commuters pass the redevelopment each day.

“We intend to make a statement on the waterfront,” he told a room of businesspeople and public officials at One Newark Center.

The project, which still being planned, would rise alongside the 340,000-square-foot Panasonic headquarters, which the technology giant moved into in 2013, and the 20-story Legal Center. Matrix developed the Panasonic building with SJP Properties and operates the Legal Center, both of which sit alongside McCarter Highway in Newark.

After the event, he said the first phase will still leave land for additional development, but Matrix will take stock of the market before deciding whether the space is developed as commercial or residential property.

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