Three months after the Newark Central Planning Board voted to reject a site plan application for the lot at 66-80 South Orange Avenue for the second time in a year, officials have turned the corner on the project and agreed to allow the proposal to move forward.
Board members voted to approve the application, which calls for 150 units, 20 off-street parking spaces and commercial space at the site, during the board’s latest meeting on June 1st.
A staff review, made public by the board, says the updated proposal from KS 66-80 South Orange Avenue LP calls for a 7-story building with 150 residential units, 3,880 square feet of retail space, and 20 parking spaces. The site plan application does not require any variances or design waivers, reflecting a substantial update from the original proposal, which was rejected in June 2025, when the developer sought six variances for the project.
The updated proposal calls for a 5,624-square-foot green roof, a 2,899-square-foot rooftop patio, a 3,845-square-foot courtyard, and private terraces. The majority of the proposed storage units on the side of the building from the last application have been replaced by an outdoor lawn, while the total number of parking spaces has also been reduced by 5 spaces to 20, despite the zoning district requiring no off-street parking.
No changes were made to the façade materials or the overall architectural design since the last application, according to the board staff report.
Thomas Garlick, an attorney representing the applicant, said during the meeting that the revised site plan includes several conditions that the developer and the board agreed to on March 23rd. These conditions included the addition of a drive aisle to improve circulation within the building, as well as improved transparency, loading space, and on-site trees.
Officials first voted to reconsider the application, then to approve the updated proposal, during the same meeting. Commissioner Andre Speight was the only member of the board to vote against reconsidering the application and approving the updated proposal.
Members of the public who submitted comments during the meeting largely supported the board’s March 23rd decision to reject the application; however, a few asked the board to allow the development to move forward.
Jersey Digs reported in April that the Essex County Court ordered the planning board to reconsider the application from KS 66-80 South Orange Avenue LP in early May.
That report came nearly six years after Jersey Digs reported that 66-80 South Orange Avenue LP submitted plans for a similar project on the same lot. That proposal went before the city’s Zoning Board of Adjustment in March 2020 and called for 109 apartments, two community terraces and 75 parking spaces. That proposal came five years after Metropolitan Senior Housing proposed a four-story apartment complex for seniors; however, plans for that project were later withdrawn.
While the site has lain fallow for at least a decade, the area surrounding the lot on South Orange Avenue has continued to grow. The site sits one block from Springfield Avenue, in an area where several developers and celebrities have continued building new apartments and commercial space. The lot also sits near the 519-bed University Hospital, which employs over 785 workers, and ShopRite of Newark.
