The New Jersey Economic Development Authority recently announced that it has approved a $29 million tax credit for the construction of a permanent venue for the New Jersey Symphony in Jersey City. The award, from the state’s Cultural Arts Facilities Expansion program, will support the construction of a new 550-seat theater at 151 Bay Street, which was completed in 2024.
The new venue will include rehearsal and production spaces, and rooms to host year-round cultural arts educational classes, workshops, and after-school programs. It will host more than 100 public performances annually, according to the EDA, including multimedia productions, civic events, public forums, and cultural celebrations.
The new home of the orchestra will be at the base of Toll Brothers and Sculptor Capital Management’s 34-story tower, which was built alongside The Morgan apartment complex on the same block. Both buildings are part of the larger Powerhouse Arts District, which has seen substantial investment in residential towers over the last decade. KABR Group’s Warren at Bay is just a block away from the theater venue, while other recently completed residential towers, including 144 First Street and 351 Marin, are also in the immediate vicinity of the new venue.
The buildings are also a few steps from the Grove Street PATH station.
Jersey City Mayor James Solomon thanked the EDA and said that the investment will bring a world-class performance venue and civic anchor, as well as low-cost arts programming to Hudson County residents.
“Jersey City has invested deeply in building the Powerhouse Arts District into a thriving cultural corridor, and this $29 million commitment from the NJEDA reflects exactly what’s possible when state and local partners align around a shared vision,” he said in the press release from the EDA.
Jersey Digs reported in 2022 that the building at 151 Bay Street was financed with a $121.5 million construction loan from Wells Fargo, as well as equity and debt secured by Toll Brothers. The project is located on the site of the Manischewitz matzo factory and The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company’s annex property and also includes 8,000 square feet for administrative offices for the state symphony.
Jersey Digs also reported in October 2025 that Toll Brothers sold The Morgan to Boston-based investment firm Rockpoint Group. A report in Multi-House News said that the sale was part of Toll Brothers’ strategic exit from the multifamily development business.
The New Jersey Symphony, which was founded in 1922, has been based at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark since 1997. The predecessors of the orchestra were founded in Brick City in 1846 but were mostly active in Montclair and Orange in their early years.
An archive from NJPAC says that by the 1960s, when the New Jersey Orchestra had expanded and become a fully fledged state orchestra, it returned to Newark to the former Grand Mosque Theater in Lincoln Park. That theater was later renamed Newark Symphony Hall and served as the home of the orchestra until 1997.
