Another apartment building is headed for Newark's Ironbound.
The city's Central Planning Board approved a site plan on Oct. 5 for a five-story mixed-use building on a 0.85-acre lot fronting Pulaski and Oliver streets, Jersey Digs reported. The applicant is KSP Pulaski LLC, which is affiliated with Newark-based developer KS Group.
The vote wasn't unanimous. Board member Elizabeth Da Silva voted against the plan, citing concerns about traffic near the lots at 121-131 Pulaski Street and 307-309 Oliver Street. She was the only member of the board to vote no.
What's planned
According to a board review of the application, the developer will combine the three parcels that make up the site and build one five-story building.
The ground floor will hold a 1,123-square-foot retail space, a fitness center, a yoga room, a lounge, utility rooms, a trash compactor room and a 78-car garage. The applicant's attorney, Adam J. Faiella, told the board the project counts as 84 parking spaces once credits are included. Rooftop amenities are also planned.
Floors two through five will hold 125 apartments: 32 studios, 71 one-bedrooms, 17 two-bedrooms and five three-bedrooms. Sizes will range from 331 square feet for a studio to 1,109 square feet for a three-bedroom.
Twenty-five of the units will be set aside as affordable housing. Seven will go to households earning 40% of the area median income, six to households at 60% and 12 to households at 80%. The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development puts the area median income for the Newark metro at $135,300 for a family of four.
Murat Mutlu of INOA Architecture, the lead architect, told the board the facade will be mostly a synthetic stucco envelope, with metal paneling at ground level, metal railings and glass.
Fewer variances, more questions
Faiella said KSP Pulaski first sought 16 variances and two design waivers. After working through feedback from the board's professionals, the project needed only eight variances along with the two waivers.
Commissioner Juanita Jordan asked how long the building would take to construct and how the community was involved in its design. She pointed to other KS Group projects in the city that are under construction and have taken years to finish.
KS Group owner Daniel Spiegel answered that the company has completed about 600 units in Newark, including 303 Washington Street; 486, 502 and 556 Market Street; 39 Madison Street; and 50 Sussex Avenue. He said KS Group is about to break ground on Newark Summit Tower in the coming weeks, and that the developer met with City Council Member Michael Silva as part of its community outreach for the Pulaski Street project near Independence Park.
Jordan and Commissioner Jermaine James both voted yes, but asked the developer to keep engaging neighbors going forward. The board didn't make that a condition of approval.
Summit Tower is a much bigger job. Jersey Digs has described it as a 41-story, 514-unit high-rise at 200-206 Market Street, across from the Prudential Center, also designed by INOA. The paper reported back in March that heavy construction had already begun at that site, so it isn't clear how that fits with Spiegel's "about to break ground" comment. Either way, KS Group clearly has a lot of work going in the city.
No construction timeline was given at the meeting, and no general contractor has been named.
Why it matters for Contractors
A five-story, 125-unit building over a ground-floor garage is a solid mid-size job, the kind that keeps local crews busy for a good stretch. The work list includes site work and parcel consolidation, foundations and the garage level, structure for four residential floors, a stucco envelope with metal panel and railings, roofing and rooftop amenity space, plus MEP, fire protection, an elevator and finishes for 125 apartments and a retail space. The facade choice matters: synthetic stucco systems need careful installation and detailing, and subcontractors who do that work well should take note. Jordan's question about how long KS Group projects take is also worth watching. A developer under pressure to finish on schedule may lean on contractors who can show they keep jobs moving. With Newark Summit Tower set to break ground soon too, KS Group has a lot in the pipeline.