NJPAC’s Campus Redevelopment Closes on Construction Financing
Windels Marx is pleased to serve as counsel to the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) for its transformational campus redevelopment, a 6.1 acre neighborhood including residential, retail, arts and culture, entertainment and public space. Following a New Markets Tax Credits financing in March 2024 and a widely-reported groundbreaking in September 2024, a highly-complex multi-party land transaction, construction financing and Aspire tax credit sale for the project closed in December.
Chuck Liebling led the multi-disciplinary deal team across Windels Marx that included:
- John Bitar, finance;
- Michael Brenna, real estate;
- Christopher Dean, corporate;
- Bill LaFave, real estate;
- Frank Quinn, finance; and
- Julie Tattoni, incentives.
Slated for completion in Fall 2027, the project will include:
- A redesigned Chambers Plaza, the “front yard” of NJPAC, that will include the creation of the Essex County Green. The upcoming facility will sport new rain gardens, lighting and seating, and a landscape that will enable programs, markets and classes to be held year-round.
- A mixed-use, mixed-income residential complex to be known as Artside developed by NJPAC and LMXD consisting of 335 rental units in mid- and high-rise buildings and 15 townhomes, each with a 20% affordable housing component, and retail and cultural spaces.
- The 58,000-square-foot Cooperman Family Arts Education and Community Center for NJPAC. Renovations will also be undertaken at the existing NJPAC facility and at 31 Mulberry Street, an existing building adjacent to the site of the Cooperman Center.
News of the project and its groundbreaking was reported via NJBIZ, The New York Times, RE-NJ and Jersey Digs, among others. In addition, ROI-NJ designated the project as its top arts story of 2024.
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