One of downtown Newark’s most anticipated projects — RBH Group’s plans to build a tower behind the historic Paramount Theater at 195 Market Street — seems to be moving forward, only this time with a scaled-down design. The Newark-based developer appeared before the Landmarks Commission this month with a new proposal to build a 16-story tower.
This application has a five-year history, first approved for 14 stories in 2021, returning to the commission in 2024 for 28 stories. It requires approval from both the Landmarks Commission and the Planning Board because it is located in the Four Corners Historic District.
It’s hard to believe, when seeing current photos of the theater’s condition, that it was still a functioning auditorium when it closed in 1986. But the venue experienced a rapid decline in the past two decades. In 2009, a plan to save the theater emerged. Developer Morris Shasho was banking on the opening of NJPAC and the Prudential Center to revive the Paramount Theater. But the plan never materialized.
Today, architect Tom Gluck said the theater itself is beyond saving and is “falling down,” but the facade will be restored. However, the neighboring buildings at 197 and 199 Market Street will be demolished along with the building’s auditorium.
Despite the loss of the grand 2,000-seat auditorium, most preservationists are just happy the facade and marquee can be saved, serving as a monument to a time when downtown Newark was New Jersey’s entertainment capital and a destination for vaudeville and world-class performance halls.
The marquee will be repainted, and the halogen lights will be replaced with LED lights, according to Gluck, founder of Gluck+.
Down the street, another theater from the vaudeville era, the RKO Procter on Market Street, is slated for conversion into apartments. The 1928 Griffith Building on Broad Street, which once had a well-known mezzanine-level performance hall, just reopened after an extensive adaptive-reuse project to convert it into apartments.
The revised plans follow a trend happening downtown in which developers are returning to the city’s land-use board with scaled-down plans, reflecting a changing economic reality.
The construction of the 16-story tower will be a challenging undertaking. The “odd-shaped lot,” as Gluck called it, wraps around a historic fish market building on Market Street and has to undergo construction amid other historic buildings. Not long ago, a historic building within the project’s footprint collapsed under its own weight.
One of the most pressing concerns about the project came from Commissioner Myles Zhang, who wondered whether construction could compromise the stability of surrounding buildings. This has been an issue in Newark before. Science High School had to be demolished despite developers vowing to reuse the building. Of particular concern is a former Masonic lodge at 16 Beaver Street.
“It’s a precious little building,” Zhang said. “When you’re building the skyscraper next to it, what kind of efforts are there to ensure its structural stability?”
Mike McAlear, vice president at the RBH Group, said the building will use vibration monitors, noting that the project entails “minimal pile work” and that they are looking at “less intrusive” techniques for the foundation.
“It doesn’t just go for the Masonic temple and the historically interesting ones,” Gluck said. “Every neighbor, whether it’s a significant building or not, has to be protected.”
