A mixed-use project that has been in the works for Newark’s Lower Broadway neighborhood for several years appears to be moving forward.

A groundbreaking ceremony for Sterling Bridge Investment Partners’ five-story Spring Street Commons development at 73-87 Clay Street was held on July 24, according to RealEstateNJ, and the project could be completed by late 2019. City records show that the 99,010-square-foot development is expected to include 84 market-rate residential units along with 4,630 square feet of retail space on the ground floor. The retail space will be divided into three units.

Jersey Digs broke the story regarding this Comito Associates-designed project back in 2016, but there had been little visible progress at the premises until recently. Located near McCarter Highway, the Clay Street Bridge, and the Newark Broad Street train station, the property once contained a Legge Industries mason supply warehouse.

The site was acquired by Spring Street Commons Urban Renewal, LLC from a Cresskill-based firm in March for $4 million. The LLC, which is registered out of the Ridgewood home of Sterling Bridge managing partner Louis Reynolds, applied earlier this year for a 15-year abatement on improvement taxes for the development from the City of Newark.

A legal notice from City Clerk Kenneth Louis states that “the Department of Economic and Housing Development has determined…that the relative benefits of this project outweigh any costs associated with this tax exemption and that without the tax abatement granted herein, the project would not be undertaken.”

An ordinance approving the tax abatement was approved by the Newark Municipal Council on July 11 and signed by Mayor Ras Baraka on July 13.