Newark officials have issued a Request for Expressions of Interest in the Broad Street Station area.
Newark Mayor Cory Booker has identified the revitalization of the Broad Street Station District as a top priority for the City, and has released a detailed concept plan, dubbed the “Living Downtown,” for approximately 50 acres surrounding the Broad Street Train Station.
The district (outlined in black dashed lines above) lies within a 5-10 minute walk of New Jersey Transit’s Broad Street Station, the Newark Light Rail line, two subway station stops, the Downtown campuses of Rutgers and NJIT, cultural institutions and an increasingly accessible Passaic Riverfront. It is framed by Newark Street to the West, Clay Street East to the North, the Passaic River to the East and Central Avenue to the South.
Mayor Booker and City officials aim to attract redevelopment that promotes mixed-use, mixed-income, transit-accessible projects through the “Broad Street Station District Redevelopment Plan,” which should be released early this summer.
Along with NJDOT’s Broad Street streetscape improvements (see MTR # 559) and NJ Transit’s Go Bus, Newark’s redevelopment plan reflects an understanding among local and state officials that transportation can drive redevelopment. Redeveloping the areas surrounding transit hubs will be a boon for Newark’s economic development as ridership into and throughout the City continues to grow.
[…] Many students pointed out that the abundance of parking lots and desolation along the route would make them feel unsafe walking the street at night. Others noted that the streets they lived on were too wide to walk across safety, or that they feared riding their bikes due to lack of bike lanes. Others wondered about a lack of police presence that made enforcement of traffic rules unlikely. Some hoped that the site of the demolished Westinghouse Building just next to the Broad St station (above) would be developed into housing, or a bowling alley. (They aren’t alone. Earlier this year, Mayor Booker also announced plans to redevelop the area around Broad St. station.) […]
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