Creativity Still Lives Here

Today the expressive, imaginative creativity of the 1960s continues and we see new real estate developments opening with the artist community in mind. Here are three of the artist-centered housing designs for Newark.

1. The Willows at Symphony Hall is a four-story, 60-unit affordable rental community located in the historic Lincoln Park Coast Cultural District. Seventy-five percent of the units are set aside as housing for the growing artistic community. The complex has both gallery and rehearsal spaces, along with a two-story community lounge, furnished sundecks, a playground, and more.

The Lincoln Park Coast Cultural District is a historic arts and cultural, live-work, sustainable, green, urban community located immediately south of Newark Symphony Hall on Broad Street.

2. The 505 Clinton Avenue Project, a 23-unit artist live-work space, is being developed in the Clinton Avenue Artist Corridor. Franklyn Ore, vice president of Newark Community Economic Development Corporation tells us, “There will be ground-floor communal workspaces for tenants, a poet’s café for forums and performances, and a performance space and gallery that will be an area for displaying and discussing work, serving as a cultural resource and a venue for artists to increase their profile.”

505 Clinton Avenue is a currently vacant historic bank building in the South Ward.

The Newark Center for Entrepreneurs has a vision to serve as a live/ work community, a business incubator, an educational support center, and a counseling and mentoring program. The development will have a campus of 51 market-rate apartments, 16 creative maker shops, and 16 makers affordable apartments. A makerspace is a place where people come together to discuss ideas, share, create, learn, and develop creative projects.

Located on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard (High Street) and listed on the National and State Registry of Historic Places, the Krueger-Scott Mansion will be rehabbed to accommodate its commercial use with respectful preservation of the building’s historic façade and integrity.

The Krueger-Scott Mansion was originally built, circa 1882, by the founder of Newark’s Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company. It was later owned by Louise Scott who made the mansion her personal residence as well as her place of business. She operated a beauty school out of the dwelling.

With 11,000 new housing units in the pipeline in Newark, and the renovation and repurposing of existing properties, live-work spaces are paramount in the planning and development of human dwelling places for artists in Newark. We welcome you!

Gwen Moten is a former White House-appointed American Cultural Specialist and served as a U.S. cultural attaché. She is presently the Executive Director of the Mayor’s Office of Arts, Cultural Development and Tourism for the City of Newark.