A long-vacant hospital in New Jersey’s largest city is being reimagined as a state-of-the-art high school that will offer courses not only in architecture and computer-assisted design but also in traditional vocational training such as plumbing and electrical work.
Broker Colliers International forged the deal that brought the Newark Board of Education to the former St. James Hospital at 155 Jefferson St. with a project that's designed to offer students in the city more options, as well as providing a welcome addition to Newark’s East Side and its Ironbound section.
The hospital has been vacant since 2008 and was a neighborhood eyesore. Its repositioning for education use is unusual, according to Colliers. The brokerage was initially seeking to lease the space to a medical-office user, a more typical tenant for such a site, on behalf of the property’s owner. But with Newark looking to build a new school in part to alleviate its student overflow, particularly at East Side High School, repurposing the former hospital seemed like a good fit and a less costly option for the proposed School of Architecture and Interior Design.
The landlord: 155 Jefferson St. Urban Renewal LLC, which includes Albert Nigri, Avi Penamu and Jack Hazen.
The brokers: James Bailey, Bryn Cinque, Stephen Graziano, Paul Rogers and Joseph Fetterman of Colliers represented the landlord. The deal for 179,100 square feet was a year in the making.
The development: The owners had approval at one point to convert the former hospital to residential use. But then potential healthcare tenants — and ultimately the school board — emerged via Colliers’ involvement. The building has been gutted, and it will be expanded to include a gym and auditorium. The initial budget for the project is just under $70 million.
The new school will open in phases, starting next year with 400 ninth-grade students. It is slated to reach full occupancy in 2024.
What they’re saying: “It’s a high school that’s really going to set children on the path to a future, whether that is in architecture, engineering, design or a trade, whatever,” Cinque said. “It’s really going to give them a step up as they graduate.”
Fun fact: The new school will also have a rooftop deck, offering a bird’s-eye perspective of Manhattan. “It‘s a million-dollar view,” Rogers said. “It’s really nice.”
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