NJIT Coalition Earns Federal and State Grant to Develop Economic Strategy for Airport City Newark

New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) has received a grant from the U.S. Economic Development Authority (USEDA) to support the transformation of an underserved area into an economic development hub based around Newark Liberty International Airport.

Housed within NJIT’s Center for Community Systems, the Airport City Newark (ACN) coalition will use the USEDA grant, with matching funds from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) to develop a Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) outlined by the USEDA. The CEDS process brings together the public and private sectors in the creation of an economic development roadmap to diversify and strengthen the regional economy.

The Airport City Newark is a coalition between NJIT, Rutgers University, University of Pennsylvania, City of Newark, government bodies and research entities coordinating to maximize the airport’s benefit to the city of Newark.

Since 2017, the ACN coalition has supported community interface, academic research, environmental review, urban planning and design, government and agency coordination, multi-modal transportation studies, and economic analysis to achieve the goal of developing an “airport city” based in the south ward of Newark. 

The co-principal investigators for the ACN study are Colette Santasieri, executive director of the Center for Community Systems, and Darius Sollohub, professor and interim director of the New Jersey School of Architecture at NJIT. Santasieri is a seasoned environmental planner, civil engineer and social scientist. Sollohub serves on the New Jersey Committee of the Regional Plan Association and has advised the City of Newark administrations of Cory Booker and Ras Baraka on airport, housing, parking and rapid transit policies.

“The grant that we received from the USEDA, along with the matching funds from the NJEDA, builds upon all the work that we've been doing for several years in the Dayton neighborhood of Newark,” said Santasieri. The study focuses on a 37-acre area defined by the City of Newark as the Newark Airport City District. The area is bound by U.S. Highway 22, Meeker Avenue, the Northeast Rail Corridor and Fenwick Street.

“The goal is to use the Newark Liberty Airport as a catalyst for economic development in this area. We're preparing an economic development strategy for that 37-acre area that will help inform the City of Newark about things that they can be doing to spur the economic development as they advance the concept of Airport City Newark,” said Santasieri.

The redevelopment of the Newark Airport City District could transform an underserved area into an economic development hub, making it a vibrant mixed-use, transit-oriented development community. The plan is to seek a strategy to directly address the low socioeconomic status of the Dayton neighborhood residents, whose median household income is less than $13,000 and unemployment rate is at 32%. 

“We are engaging a third-party consultant that is specifically looking at the feasibility of development, given where we are in the marketplace and having access to proprietary data that indicates the potential of the proposed project," said Sollohub. "For example, if you build housing – this is what you could rent it for, and these are the projected occupancy rates, this is the percentage of affordability that the Community Benefit Agreement asks for… They would assess these parameters in very precise terms," added Sollohub.

USEDA grants are awarded through a competitive process based upon the application’s merit, the applicant’s eligibility, and the availability of funds. The grant is for an 18-month period and builds upon ACN work that has been funded with four previous grants by the Prudential Foundation.