Newark Plans New 'Teachers Village'
article by Jillian Blacksmith-Reed | February 22, 2012
Ground was recently broken on a new mixed-use development, dubbed the ‘Teachers Village’ in Newark, N.J. that would provide facilities for three charter schools, a day care facility, housing and ground-level retail space. The project comes at a time when Governor Chris Christie has been paying special attention to education in the state of New Jersey.
The project will aid in the expansion and relocation of three schools—Great Oaks, Discovery Charter School and TEAM Academy—providing 90,000 square feet for the facilities. The hope is that this new project will fuel the local economy and help revitalize the area.
“This area has tremendous potential, and this is the first phase to catalyze that neighborhood,” the project’s lead developer, RBH Group president Ron Beit said to The Star-Ledger. “We have an opportunity to build a community here for the 21st century that will serve as an economic engine for the city for decades to come.”
The project was conceived over 6 years ago when Newark was listed as one of the top places to invest in real-estate. The $150 million project is largely publicly funded with support from federal, state and city governments.
One of the other hopes of this project is that it will help build bridges across party lines in the efforts to reform education around the state as it has both the support of Newark Mayor Cory Booker, a Democrat, and Gov. Christie, a republican. Part of the plan has been to expand charter school programs. However, New Jersey’s charter programs have faced steep criticisms from civil rights groups and teacher’s unions stating that they are serving lower proportions of special-needs and English-language learner students than their public counterparts.
The housing projects to be built as a part of the project are designed for teachers. This idea to integrate teacher housing within the project came about when developers and officials noted that teachers were overworked and often lived far from the schools they worked at.
Beit explained to The Nation, that he felt that by having teachers living in close proximity it would foster growth in the profession, and it would encourage “socializing and the exchange of ideas.… It’s like an artists’ enclave or a technology cluster for businesses, but here it’s for teachers.”
Because the housing is designed with teachers in mind the rent has been adjusted to fit within a teacher’s budget. The apartments will start at around $700 for a studio apartment, $1,100 for a one-bedroom, and $1,400 for a two-bedroom.
The first phase of the development is projected to be completed in the summer of 2013, which is when teachers and businesses will be able to begin moving in.
“It’s a great day for Newark, and a great day for Newark is a great day for New Jersey,” Mayor Booker said at the groundbreaking ceremony. “New Jersey stands with the people of Newark.”
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