The $336 million campus redevelopment will include 350 mixed-income residential units, new retail spaces, and a new state-of-the-art home for WBGO, New Jersey's premier public jazz station.
Mayor Ras Baraka and Governor Phil Murphy broke ground on the project at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday on Mulberry Street.
They were joined by NJPAC President and CEO John Schreiber, philanthropist Leon Cooperman, and other dignitaries for the ceremonial dig.
"Today we make good on our promise to our institution," Schreiber said.
They're going as far as redesigning the streets and traffic patterns in the area.
A huge educational center for community gatherings, rehearsal, studios, classrooms will also be built.
It will be called the Cooperman Center, thanks to a $20 million donation from New York philanthropist Lee Cooperman, who has been a strong supporter of NJPAC since its start in 1997.
Without the arts we are nobody. They are integral to our state our society," Governor Murphy said.
New housing, including affordable housing will be built as well. This will change the entire area surrounding the performance arts center. This parking lot where the big announcement was made is also a burial ground where the bodies of slaves still lie below. The new development will include an honor to all of those lives.
"I want to thank John for giving care and thought," Mayor Baraka said. "We give voice to those who can't speak so we speak it."
The redevelopment is expected to take three years.
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