The money rehabilitates 100 apartments at Cottage Place and builds 174 homes at Crown Village on the former Pabst brewery block.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) board cleared a major public financing hurdle Thursday for 274 income-restricted units across two Newark projects. The awards provide up to $77.44 million in Aspire tax credits for the rehabilitation of the Cottage Place complex and homes planned at the former brewery site on South Orange Avenue. Construction is projected to start in March 2027 on the Cottage Place work, according to the authority.

The board approved the awards at its October 22, 2026, meeting in New Brunswick, and NJEDA announced them Friday. The money covers rehabilitation of 100 apartments at Cottage Place, 125 West Kinney Street, and 174 units at Crown Village, planned for the former brewery site at South Orange Avenue and Grove Street.

Both projects remain pre-construction, and the awards cover only part of the financing.

In a statement released with the announcement, Assemblywoman Shanique Speight (D, 29th District) said: "Newark residents, including families as well as vulnerable populations like our seniors deserve housing that is safe, affordable, and dignified." "These investments revitalize a vacant brewery site into brand-new homes, upgrade existing apartments with energy-efficient features, and offer job training and support services to help our community thrive. We commend the NJEDA for investing in our city."

At Cottage Place, the award funds new kitchens and bathrooms, new windows and roofs, energy-efficient heating and cooling equipment and a supportive-services program designed to keep tenants housed, per the authority's announcement.

The city extended the property's tax exemption about thirty years past its 2037 expiration, to roughly 2067, in exchange for keeping the complex under federal affordability controls for that term. The parcel's owner, Cottage Place II LLC, is selling to Cottage Place Apartments LLC; the council consented to the sale and the abatement's assignment this past March and approved the revised resolution in May. But the assignment still needs approval from the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (NJHMFA). The complex is managed by Boston-based WinnCompanies.

Crown Village's first phase will bring 105 units for residents 55 and older across two five-story buildings, with a section of apartments set aside for households earning between 50 and 60 percent of area median income and for people transitioning out of homelessness. The phase also carries job training, community outreach and pre-apprenticeship programs in the building trades. A second phase adds a five-story building with 69 one-, two- and three-bedroom units. The Newark Housing Authority has committed federal project-based Section 8 vouchers for the second phase, and the 69 family units include apartments reserved for low-income residents and people who have been homeless, according to the announcement. Per nj.com's coverage of the vote, maximum rents at Crown Village are set at 30 percent of tenant income.

Crown Village is the work of Crown Village Urban Renewal, Inc. and South Orange Ave. 1 Urban Renewal, Inc., both of 27 Prince Street in Elizabeth, per the abatement ordinances.

NJEDA capped the three Aspire awards at $29.6 million for Cottage Place, $27.8 million for Crown Village's first phase and $20.04 million for the second, each covering up to 60 percent of eligible project costs. The projects also carry federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit support through the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, per the announcement. Crown Village's financing adds the two 30-year municipal abatements adopted in December 2025 and project-based Section 8 rental assistance committed by the housing authority.

"At this year's Governor's Conference on Housing and Economic Development, Governor Sherrill laid out a bold plan to tackle housing affordability, bring down costs, and accelerate housing production across the state," said NJEDA Chief Executive Officer Evan Weiss. "Through the Aspire Program, the NJEDA is taking action to boost the Governor's efforts by supporting the creation of developments that will provide meaningful housing opportunities for seniors and residents."

The South Orange Avenue brewery block waited decades for a plan

The South Orange Avenue half of the package is the block anchored by the former Hoffman Beverage brewery, later operated by Pabst, which ceased operating in the mid-1980s. A 60-foot bottle that advertised Hoffman's Pale Dry Ginger Ale, plus a 55,000-gallon water tank, landmarks visible for miles and known to fans of "The Sopranos," stayed on the skyline while demolition crews chewed at the brewery starting in 2004. The bottle came off in 2006. The block has sat mostly empty since the teardown.

Plans for the block have come and gone for more than two decades. In 2004, the owners pitched a $33 million complex pairing housing with shopping, promising 200 construction jobs and over 1,300 permanent ones. The project was never built. Eleven years later, in December 2015, the Newark Community Economic Development Corporation put the land out to bid, with the parcel appraised at approximately $3,039,000. A 660-unit plan went before the city's Zoning Board of Adjustment in 2020. On December 17, 2025, the Newark Municipal Council approved the current plan, 329 units across two phases, and adopted two 30-year tax abatements. Allison Ladd, a deputy mayor and the city's director of economic and housing development, told the council both phases would be built simultaneously, according to nj.com's coverage of the vote. The Aspire awards will fund 174 of those units.

"NJEDA stands strong yet again to support stability for Newark residents through safe, comfortable, affordable housing. These funds, earmarked for new construction, renovations, and built-in social services will improve the lives of our respected elders and our most vulnerable individuals and families," said Newark Mayor Ras Baraka in a statement released with the announcement. "We are grateful to Governor Sherrill and the NJEDA for awarding these grants and demonstrating their complete alignment with our city's mandate to provide quality homes at affordable cost, in the shortest reasonable time, to as many Newarkers as possible."

The formula assumes an income Newark's median household doesn't earn

A Newark household earning the city's median qualifies for the deepest band — it is open to households earning up to $69,200, the 50 percent area median income band in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's fiscal 2026 limits for the Newark metro area, where median family income stands at $138,400. At the 30 percent standard nj.com reported for Crown Village, that household would pay about $940 a month. Newark's median household income is $37,476, less than a third of the metro figure, and the city's Division of Affordable and Sustainable Housing has posted that what counts as affordable under the federal formulas "are considerably higher than the City of Newark's Median Household Income of $37,476." A 2021 Rutgers Law School study estimated Newark needs 16,234 more apartments renting at about $750 a month than it has.

At the December 17, 2025 meeting, critics pressed the council to change how affordability is calculated for Newark to reflect the city's actual income levels, according to nj.com's coverage of the vote. Munirah Bomani asked: "When are we going to have legislation that changes the area median income?" Debra Salters, then a candidate for mayor, said: "Our people cannot afford to live here."

Aspire-backed projects have produced more than 7,500 units since 2021

Aspire has backed more than 40 developments producing over 7,500 housing units statewide, according to the authority's July statement on the program.

"Aspire was created with the belief that communities with the greatest needs deserve the same chance for growth," said Assemblywoman Eliana Pintor Marin (D, 29th) alongside the announcement. "After years of work to bring this program to life, seeing it deliver right here in Newark is especially rewarding. These projects will create or preserve 274 affordable homes, including much-needed housing for our seniors, who deserve the stability and dignity of aging in the communities they've helped build."

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Sources

affordablehousingonline, "Cottage Place in Newark, New Jersey" (accessed October 24, 2026)

Associated Press, "Last Call for Former Pabst Brewery in NJ," carried by Construction Equipment Guide (August 30, 2004)

City of Newark, Municipal Council, Ordinances 24-1359 and 24-1360 (adopted December 17, 2025)

City of Newark, Municipal Council, Resolution for file 26-0346, consenting to the assignment of the financial agreement from Cottage Place II, LLC to Cottage Place Apartments, LLC (adopted March 18, 2026)

City of Newark, Municipal Council, Resolution for file 26-0660, consenting to the assignment of the financial agreement from Cottage Place II, LLC to Cottage Place Apartments, LLC (adopted May 6, 2026)

Jersey Digs, "660-Unit Development Proposed Where Newark's Pabst Brewery Once Stood" (July 8, 2020)

Jersey Digs, "Former Pabst Brewery Site in Newark Moves Closer to Redevelopment" (January 23, 2026)

Katharine L. Nelson and David D. Troutt, Rutgers Law School Center on Law, Inequality and Metropolitan Equity, "Homes Beyond Reach: An Assessment and Gap Analysis of Newark's Affordable Rental Stock" (February 18, 2021)

New Jersey Economic Development Authority, "NJEDA Aspire Program Advances Affordable Residential Projects in Newark" (October 23, 2026)

New Jersey Economic Development Authority, Board Meeting Public Agenda (October 22, 2026)

New Jersey Economic Development Authority, Evan Weiss, Chief Executive Officer, "Statement on Aspire Program" (July 22, 2026)

Steve Strunsky, nj.com, "Newark grants tax breaks to '100% affordable' housing on old Pabst brewery site" (December 18, 2025)

ROI-NJ Staff, "NJEDA temporarily pausing Aspire Program applications" (July 22, 2026)

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Photo: Famartin/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)