Defunct baseball stadium in NJ to make way for major city development

The stadium was once home to minor league baseball’s Newark Bears, which folded in 2013.

The stadium location was earmarked for redevelopment before the last brick from the stadium hit the ground.

The 11-acre site is located at the corner of Broad and Division Streets and is close to the light rail station and the Newark Broad Street train station.

The project is being spearheaded by Lakewood-based Accurate Builders & Developers and they received final approval for the project from the Newark Central Planning Board on July 26.

The development calls for eight towers at 18 stories and three towers at 37 stories with over 4,000 1,2 and 3-bedroom apartments overlooking the Passaic River. It will include over 100,000 square feet of commercial and retail space for restaurants and shops with close to 2,000 parking spaces, something desperately needed in that area.

The name of the development will be called CitiSquare Newark.

It’s been a tough battle for Accurate Builders & Developers who wrestled with a new council and stiff competition bidding for the prized land.

With the new approval happening just days ago, no new word on when they will break ground on the project but a good guess is that it will be fairly soon.

There were great memories at the Newark Bears and now thousands more will enjoy the same land and call it home. It’s a positive move for the city of Newark and the project will bring more jobs and services back to Newark.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 weekend host Big Joe Henry. Any opinions expressed are Big Joe’s own.

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