The New Jersey Performing Arts Center commenced work yesterday on a $336-million, three-year overhaul of its Downtown Newark campus. The start of construction, announced by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, will bring hundreds of homes, commercial spaces, educational uses, and rehearsal spaces to the approximately 12-acre site.

Included in the project is ArtSide, described a mixed-income and mixed-use complex that will be developed by NJPAC along with LMXD and MCI Collective, with design work by SOM. Plans call for 350 rental units - including 20 units of affordable housing - atop cultural and retail spaces such as a new home for Newark jazz public radio station WBCO. The development will also include an extension of Mulberry Street onto what is now a parking lot.

Cooperman Family Arts Education and Community Center. View north on Mulberry Street.Weiss/Manfredi | NJPAC

Weiss/Manfredi is designing another element of the expansion - the Cooperman Family Arts Education and Community Center - which will replace a parking lot with space for students and community members to gather.

Chambers Plaza, NJPAC's front yard, is being redesigned by Future Green. Plans also call for the construction of Essex County Greet , which will create a new urban park.

An existing building at 31 Mulberry Street, located next to the Cooperman Center, is being renovated into offices and educational spaces. OCA Architects is designing that component of the project.

Extended Mulberry Street. Looking North toward Rector Street.SOM | NJPAC

“Newark is a city rich in history and possibilities, and NJPAC's role as an active, engaged and productive anchor cultural institution in its future is an extraordinarily exciting one,” said NJPAC chief executive officer John Schreiber in a news release. “We're grateful beyond measure to the remarkable coalition of partners, both public and private, who have collaborated with us to make this new neighborhood an exciting reality.”

The project is the beneficiary in $200 million of tax credits granted by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, as well as private financial  sources and philanthropic support of a $244-million capital campaign.