By David Cruz

Correspondent

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was pulling double duty today. On one end of the street downtown he was breaking ground on an 87-unit mixed use, mixed income development at 999 Broad St. and on the other end of the street, cutting the ribbon at 60 Nevada, 75 units of affordable housing, both developed by RPM Development. Ed Martoglio is president of RPM, which has sailed the ebb and flow of Newark’s choppy real estate for 20 years.

“Still enormous amounts of work to be done downtown and in the neighborhoods, but anything we’ve ever built here — and we’ve now completed like 20 separate projects in Newark — the market demand has always been extremely high,” Martoglio said.

The challenge for a city like Newark — where affordable housing is so scarce — is to marry the needs of current residents with the needs of the city to attract new residents.

“It’s affordable so people can live in this community that are already here and people are attracted to it as well, so it’s mixed income,” noted Baraka, “so [RPM is] to attract both and that’s great for this community; it’s great for this city. As long as projects like this present themselves, people are excited about developing in Newark and we’re giving them the opportunities to make that happen, giving them the right subsidies, the right opportunities to make the project affordable.”

And that requires subsidies and tax incentives, from the city and the state, which contributed about $4 million to 60 Nevada’s $21 million budget through the Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency.

“This project at 60 Nevada will actually have five units set aside for homeless individuals,” said NJHMFA Executive Director Anthony Marchetta. “They’ll get the counseling that they need while they’re here and we think integrating people that have special needs into market-rate housing and affordable housing is the way to go.”

Until very recently, Danielle Coleman lived in a shelter with her teen daughter. This week, they’re moving into a new two-bedroom apartment, close to school and now, work, a real chance at a new life in the city she has always loved.

“It’s just awesome,” she said, fighting back tears. “It’s really beautiful. It’s a little overwhelming because I’m just excited. I can’t believe this place is right here. In the middle of Newark. It’s just beautiful.”

Real estate developers are in business to make money, primarily, but every once in a while, through government incentives, market forces or just plain luck, they can actually change a life, and, for a rebounding city, that beats simple brick and mortar any day.

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