New Jersey seeks developers for Arts Center site.

The New Jersey Performing Arts Center announced the first major expansion since its opening in 1997: the issuance of a request for expressions of interest seeking a private development partner for Two Center St., a 1.2-acre site adjacent to the Arts Center in downtown Newark.

Following more than two years of pre-development activity with a team of nationally-recognized advisors in urban real estate, planning, design and finance, NJPAC is poised to advance its original master plan to enhance the Arts Center's physical surroundings and accelerate the revitalization of Newark's downtown.

"This is a historic moment for NJPAC and the City of Newark," said Lawrence P. Goldman, NJPAC's president and CEO. "Our mission, since the earliest days of planning, has been for the Arts Center to help create a vibrant, round-the-clock environment in the Newark Arts District. The only missing ingredient is market-rate residential and higher-end retail opportunities right in the heart of the downtown--only steps away from the Arts Center itself. After eight years of successfully operating an internationally-acclaimed cultural facility, we are ready to build upon NJPAC's achievements and infuse new life, living and commerce into this great American city."

Two Center St. is expected to include a residential community of at least 250 units (in low, mid and high-rise settings), 30,000 s/f of street-level retail and cultural uses and structured parking for over 700 cars. Support for a portion of pre-development activities has been provided by the Bank of America and the MCJ Foundation.

Through the RFEI, NJPAC is soliciting the submission of qualifications and expressions of interest from high-quality potential development partners with experience in first-class, high-rise and complex developments in major urban settings. Developers must have a commitment to excellence in planning and design, an established record of financial stability, a record of integrity and trustworthiness and a basic sensibility in harmony with NJPAC's multi-layered mission.

"Two Center Street is among the most important, visible development sites in the Northeastern United States," said Arthur F. Ryan, chairman and CEO of Prudential Financial, Inc. and co-chair of the NJPAC board of directors. "NJPAC is committed to conducting a careful, efficient search for a qualified development partner and expects that any potential collaborator will share the same values of artistic excellence, access and opportunity for all, racial diversity and celebration of city life for which NJPAC has come to stand."

The New Jersey Performing Arts Center, which opened in October 1997, was built through a public/ private partnership that invested $187 million in its creation. In eight seasons of operation, the Arts Center has attracted more than four million visitors.

A master plan, developed in 1988 with the firm of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, along with James Stewart Polshek and Partners, and refined by Barton Myers Associates, the architect of the Arts Center itself, envisioned NJPAC's theaters and cultural facility as catalyst for expansive development in and around the Arts Center site. As such, NJPAC assembled three large development sites with the intention that they would provide a benchmark for a new generation of residential and related investment in downtown Newark. Plans for the additional two development sites will be formulated in coming years.