Shovels have broken ground in Newark on a major campus redevelopment for the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC)—a $336 million project with designs by SOM, Weiss/Manfredi, OCA Architects, and Future Green Studio.
Upon completion, NJPAC will bring housing, shops, restaurants, outdoor gathering spaces, and a unique education and community center (with professional rehearsal spaces) to Newark’s downtown spread throughout its 12-acre campus.
NJPAC first opened in 1997; its original master plan was completed by SOM in the 1980s. SOM’s newest contribution to NJPAC is called ArtSide—a mixed-use, mixed-income residential complex with 350 units, 20 percent of which will be below market rate. ArtSide will also have a bevy of retail and cultural spaces. Newark’s beloved jazz public radio station, WBGO, for instance will be located inside the SOM-designed building.
“With this new, equitable neighborhood, we will bring affordable housing, pedestrian paths, and inclusive cultural spaces together to create an arts and education-infused campus,” Julia Murphy, SOM partner, said in a statement. “Outdoor performance spaces, art installations, activated retail, and connections to the Newark Light Rail system and Newark Riverfront Park will attract visitors to the streets around NJPAC, expanding the center’s cultural legacy.”
Chris Cooper, another SOM partner, added: “In 1988, long before NJPAC opened, SOM created the original master plan for the campus and today is designing the residential components of the project. NJPAC’s commitment to downtown Newark is central to its mission. Our original master plan for the campus intended it to be a hub of activity in the heart of the city that would bring new life to the surrounding neighborhoods. Now more than 35 years later, NJPAC and its partners are driving that vision forward.”
Weiss/Manfredi was responsible for designing the Cooperman Family Arts Education and Community Center—a 58,000-square-foot arts and community space. That multi-story complex sheathed in an attractive salmon red facade coalesces near landscape improvements by Future Green.
Future Green Studio, a Brooklyn office, has designed a new four-season urban park, Essex County Green, for the complex. The landscape architecture firm also redesigned Chambers Plaza, a place known as NJPAC’s front yard.
OCA Architects, based in Newark, was tapped to renovate an existing building NJPAC recently acquired at 31 Mulberry Street, a parcel adjacent to the Cooperman Center. At 31 Mulberry Street, OCA Architects will create additional space for community and educational gatherings, and auxiliary office spaces for ArtSide. This will also entail the redesign of NJPAC’s eastern facade, certain interiors, and loading docks.
Construction is slated for completion in fall 2027.
