The Newark City Council recently endorsed a plan to bring a mixed-use development that includes a convenience store to the West Ward. The approval, which includes the sale of two government-owned parcels at 92-94 Stuyvesant Avenue at a deep discount, came after the city council amended the original plan to build a mixed-use building that included a grocery store.
Members of the city council voted on the amendment to the resolution and the resolution itself on February 4 during their first regular meeting of the month. However, the sale of the two parcels to the buyer, The Manor Restaurant LLC, has been planned since at least October 2025. The change to a mixed-use building with a convenience store, rather than a grocery store, also represents a significant departure from the original proposal.
Council’s last action on that resolution from last year was to return it to administration during its meeting on November 6, after it voted to postpone the sale in previous meetings.
The text of the resolution states that the buyer, which is based at 795 Sanford Avenue in Vailsburg, will pay $75,000 for the two lots, which are currently owned by the city’s Department of Economic and Housing Development. That sale price also reflects a 25% cut from the city’s proposed sale price of $100,000 last year. The buyer’s address is the same as the Family Manor Restaurant, a Dominican restaurant located approximately one mile south of the two parcels.
The lots span 50 by 100 feet and have an assessed value of $133,000, according to the Essex County Tax Board. The city has owned the parcels since they were foreclosed in 2016 and will now be sold at $15 per square foot, per the city’s 2004 ordinance.
The resolution stipulates that the developer must commence construction within 3 months of title transfer and complete construction within 18 months. However, the Department of Economic and Housing Development has not yet made its plans public.
The resolution also requires the developer to ensure that 30% of all contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers are Newark-based, and to prioritize hiring Newark residents for the jobs created.
Jersey Digs did not hear back from Council Member Dupre L. Kelly’s office, who sponsored the resolution, nor from The Manor Restaurant LLC.
The move to develop 92-94 Stuyvesant Avenue marks a notable departure from the recent development “paradigm” in Newark’s West Ward. Over the last several years, major new construction has been heavily concentrated along the Springfield Avenue corridor, where institutional-scale projects, particularly around the retail and medical centers in the ward, have dominated the landscape.
In contrast, this project is three blocks from the heart of Vailsburg at South Orange Avenue, and roughly one mile from Seton Hall University and the East Orange VA Medical Center.
