Joseph Della Fave, the executive director of the Ironbound Community Corporation, said 800 units of mostly unbuilt market-rate housing had been approved for the neighborhood in the past few years. He described development as “a double-edged sword,” which threatens to raise home prices beyond the reach of many residents. His organization is pushing for an ordinance that guarantees 20 percent affordable housing in buildings with 30 or more units.

He was less ambivalent about projects to extend Riverfront Park, which connects downtown Newark and the Ironbound to the Passaic River, and to revive Ironbound Stadium, a beloved sports field that was contaminated by chemicals from a plastics plant and has been closed for 30 years.

“Whatever changes are coming, we don’t want to lose the character of the community,” said Augusto Amador, the Municipal Council member for the East Ward, which includes the Ironbound. “Anything that will be done will be done with that in mind.”

What You’ll Find

The Ironbound is defined by Newark Penn Station and Amtrak train tracks to the west, the Passaic River to the north, U.S. Route 1-9 to the east and Interstate 78 to the south. Real estate brokers often distinguish between “north Ironbound,” considered desirable because it’s near the long commercial corridor of Ferry Street, and “south Ironbound,” which is more industrial. Michael Rosa, an owner-broker with the Rosa Agency, which has an office in the Ironbound, described a typical home as an early 1900s multifamily house on a 25-by-100-foot lot, usually without a driveway.