A former public housing complex in Newark’s South Ward might be redeveloped at some point down the line, but few details have been revealed yet about what the property could eventually be used for.
Newark Housing Authority (NHA) Executive Director Victor Cirilo issued a public notice earlier this month regarding the 503-unit Seth Boyden Terrace site in the Dayton neighborhood. Located off of Frelinghuysen Avenue near the Weequahic Golf Course, the Seth Boyden Terrace property consists of multiple vacant low-rise former public housing buildings that have sat vacant and boarded up for years.
In the notice, the NHA continued to acknowledge that it “has not yet gathered the finance to demolish the site,” but noted that the agency “has begun identifying potential commercial and residential developer partners” in addition to its engagement with Newark’s municipal government and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
The names of the potential commercial and residential development partners were not listed in this notice, which was issued to announce an amendment to the NHA’s annual plan for 2020. In a separate legal notice from the NHA that was published over the winter, the agency announced that a “potential development partner” was expected to tour the site in February.
Jersey Digs sent two emails to Cirilo last week requesting the names of the potential development partners along with additional information regarding the potential redevelopment of Seth Boyden Terrace, but the requests for comment have not yet been returned.
The notice from this month also indicated that under the New Jersey Local Redevelopment and Housing Law, the City of Newark has designated the NHA “as the neighborhood redevelopment entity.” However, it added that “it is possible that the NHA may not fully implement the completed transformation plan due to financing, but certainly a variation will be taken into consideration.”
The Seth Boyden Terrace premises have previously been discussed in the context of their proximity to the Newark Liberty International Airport rail station. The station is situated less than a mile away from the former housing project, but can only be accessed using the AirTrain from the airport itself. However, the proposed PATH extension project would allow for access to passenger rail service from the Frelinghuysen Avenue corridor.
In a statement in 2017, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said that “numerous hotel and industrial developers have expressed interest in building in the transit village that will be created near the new PATH station,” adding that “the project will transform the Dayton/Seth Boyden community, creating economic growth, jobs, new housing and an improved quality of life.”
