NEWARK, NJ — The Newark Central Planning Board approved a proposal Monday to add four-stories onto an existing commercial building downtown.

The result is a five-story mixed-use building at 289-293 Halsey St. with 40 residential units, a ground floor parking garage, 885-square-feet of commercial retail space, a residential lobby and a partial green roof. The building is located between Hill and Pearl streets, about a block south of Teacher's Village.

The developer was represented by the land use team at the Newark-based law firm of Murphy Schiller & Wilkes LLP. The development team included Kirk Mitchell and Dwayne Dancy from AKT Designs LLC, Joseph Mele and Mark Vizzini from Dresdner Robin, and Craig Peregoy from Dynamic Traffic.

The plan by Lakewood-based Klein Fund, LLC will transform the premises which have long contained a one-story building. The structure includes a garage that was home to E&L Battery & Ignition Co. before the firm was acquired by a Rochester, New York-based automotive business, Jersey Diggs reported.