A proposal to bring a five-story building with 32 apartments to a lot on South Orange Avenue near Vailsburg Park recently took a step forward after the Newark City Council voted to pass an ordinance for a financial agreement to support the project.
During Newark’s last city council meeting held on April 15, members voted to pass on first reading an ordinance for a 20-year PILOT that will support the redevelopment of three parcels at 763 and 765-767 South Orange Avenue.
The project has been in the works since 2022.
Members of the city council voted 8 – 0 to pass the ordinance. Council member Carlos Gonzalez, who was not at the meeting, did not cast a vote. City council will now be required to hold a second vote to adopt the legislation after a public hearing.
The text of the ordinance states that 763 South Orange Urban Renewal LLC, which is affiliated with the East Orange-based real estate firm Naimor, intends to deliver a new five-story building with 32 rental units, 1,143 square feet of retail space, and 8 parking spaces. The LLC intends to deliver 25 market-rate units – 2 studios, 16 one bedrooms, and 7 two-bedroom apartments. The project will also allot one one-bedroom for tenants earning 40% AMI, one studio and one one-bedroom for tenants earning 60% AMI, and one studio, two one-bedrooms, and one two-bedroom for tenants earning 80% AMI.
Tenant amenities, including a gym, roof deck, an elevator, and a 450-square-foot storage room, are also planned for the project.
An archive from the Newark Zoning Board of Adjustment from 2023 shows that the agency reviewed the application for the site on July 20 of that year. The agenda mentions that the board denied an application from Brooklyn-based developer Israel Weiss and S Orange Developers LLC in March 2022. That application called for the construction of a six-story mixed-use building, but Jersey Digs could not verify whether the board approved the revised application.
The Newark, NJ HUD Metro area, the metric used to determine affordability across the region, reports that in June 2025, the 60% AMI limit was $81,180 for a family of four. And while it is likely that the city council will vote to approve the financial agreement, the determination of the affordability rate remains a point of contention between Newark residents and the legislative body at meetings.
On one hand, the city council is legally bound to approve projects and financial agreements that comply with local, state, and federal regulations – including income limits – but on the other, the median household income for the city was around $52,060 in 2024, according to data from the U.S. Census.
The text of the ordinance says that instead of paying the full tax burden for the land and improvements, the developer will pay ‘the greater of the minimum annual service charge or 7.5% of the Annual Gross Revenue from the affordable housing units, 10% – 12% of the Annual Gross Revenue from the market rate units as set forth more fully within the Financial Agreement, and 15% of the Annual Gross Revenue from the other components of the Project.’
Jersey Digs reported in January 2023 that S Orange Developers intended to develop the assemblage as part of a two-building project that would have initially delivered 36 units on the lot across Chelsea Avenue. That report said that the application for the 32-unit portion of the proposal would be presented to the Zoning Board of Adjustment in March 2023, but it was not until July 20 of that year that S Orange Developers headed before the board. Records from the Essex County Register show that S Orange Developers LLC sold the site for $606,000 in February 2025, which may reflect the asking price for a project site that has already been fully entitled and shovel-ready.
The Newark City Council will meet on May 6, when it is likely to vote on the project’s financial agreement.
