Whole Foods Market is getting close to opening a brand new location in Newark. In addition to 110 new jobs, Whole Foods is offering a number of grants and microcredit lending opportunities to the local community.

The Blues People International Festival has returned to Newark, New Jersey for a second annual weeklong celebration of jazz, funk, salsa, and gospel music. The festival is free to the public and aims to celebrate music representative of and developed by people of African descent.

Fast, quality, and healthy is the new lunch time mantra. So it’s no surprise, Grabbagreen, an Arizona-based fast-casual concept known for their fresh and healthy alternative to fast food, is experiencing rapid growth. They’re now making their northeastern debut with a new store in Downtown Newark.

Barcade is planning to open a bar in Downtown Newark. The bar, which serves a wide variety of craft beers, sandwiches, and burgers, is known for the dozens of vintage arcade video games at each location.

World-renowned celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson has signed on to open up a restaurant in one of downtown Newark’s most prominent buildings, adding another feather in the cap to both the city’s revitalization and to a historic landmark that’s undergoing a thorough restoration.

Another historic but neglected building in one of New Jersey’s oldest stretches of downtown is getting a facelift, bringing more residential units plus some revitalized retail back to the heart of Newark.

Several of New Jersey’s most historic sites are located within a few miles of each other in Newark. A newly-launched self-guided walking tour allows residents and visitors to see nearly all of them.

A 7.5-acre mixed-use neighborhood is planned for the Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium site in Downtown Newark. The 2.3 million square foot development will contain a mix of residential, office, retail, and cultural space.

Redmellon 579 Holdings, LLC is planning to convert the Kislak Building, which is within the Military Park Commons Historic District, into 48 residential rental units with 5,591 square feet of retail space on the ground floor.

As revitalization projects continue in the Downtown Newark area, developers are beginning to look at the city’s North Ward as a new place to build in. Next week the Zoning Board will hear proposals for two new projects in the area.