Work at the 22-story One Riverview tower on Rector Street has been stalled since officials held a high-profile ribbon cutting ceremony in September 2013
An artistic rendering of One Riverview, a high-rise condominium building to be built in downtown Newark by a group involving pro basketball superstar Shaquille O'Neal. NEWARK - The city will kick in $2 million to the developers of the long-delayed One Riverview high-rise apartment tower in hopes of finally getting the project off the ground.
The Municipal Council voted 7-0 Tuesday to approve transferring the revenue collected via the city's car rental tax to New Brunswick-based Boraie Development, which officials say will help them begin work on the 22-story building sometime in the next month.
"We'll be able to start construction," said Baye Adofo-Wilson, the city's deputy mayor for housing and economic development. "We're going to have groundbreaking ceremony in two weeks."
Despite high-profile backing by Boraie and NBA great Shaquille O'Neal, the $68 million tower at the former Science High School site on Rector Street has been stuck in neutral for more than two years after a high-profile ribbon-cutting ceremony in 2013.
It has been billed as Newark's first new residential high-rise since 1962, and its blueprints call for a grand addition to the city's skyline.
RELATED: Why NJPAC's next big act is still a parking lot
The distinct facade and decorative entryway of the roughly 120-year-old former malt factory and high school would be preserved, with the 26-story glass-and-steel tower rising behind it. Retail shops would inhabit its ground floor, while residents of the 169 apartments above it would be treated to views of the Passaic River and the rest of downtown.
Adofo-Wilson said rising construction costs had prevented the project from progressing - its original price tag was pegged at $60 million - and the deal was the product of talks with Boraie President Omar Boraie intended to push through the financial challenges.
The would-be site of the high-rise apartment building, a 120-year-old former malt factory that was most recently home to Newark's Science High School. The school shut its doors in 2006. (Dan Ivers | NJ Advance Media)"We've been though a lengthy negotiation on this to ensure that he would be shovel ready, and he has met conditions put before him," Adofo-Wilson said.
Boraie Vice President Wasseem Boraie said the project if being financed by $35 million in loans provided by Goldman Sachs and just under $24 million in Urban Transit Hub tax grants, with the remainder coming from the developer and other private sources.
The project will also benefit from a 30-year tax abatement granted by city officials in April 2013.
Rehabilitation work on the existing building is likely to take about 60 days, after which the tower should begin to emerge from behind the nearby New Jersey Performing Arts Center. Officials say the entire construction process is expected to last 15 to 17 months.
After two years of delays, news that work was finally imminent came as a great relief to council members at Tuesday's meeting.
"Welcome to the neighborhood," she said.
Dan Ivers may be reached at divers@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DanIversNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
