For Pru Center plaza, going is slow and costly.

The Star Ledger – April 20, 2008

A planned entrance plaza for the Prudential Center is running behind schedule and over budget.

The Newark Housing Authority, the city agency responsible for downtown redevelopment, is struggling to acquire the final three of six parcels covering 50,000 square feet from Market Street to Edison Place at the northeast corner of the arena.

The NHA is on pace to exceed its $6.5 million budget for the project. It has spent $4.4 million to acquire three of the properties in the plaza's footprint, and is working to acquire the remaining lots.

"What has been more expensive than we anticipated is property acquisitions," said Bill Crawley, chief operating officer of the Newark Downtown Core Redevelopment Corp., an agency created by the NHA to oversee development around the arena.

By the time the NHA made its first acquisition, the arena was nearly completed and real estate near the arena was increasing in value.

Crawley said the NHA has used Urban Enterprise Zone funds to cover payment for architectural and project management costs, and may be able to use UEZ money to cover demolition costs.

However, Crawley did not rule out the possibility of asking the owner of the arena an d the New Jersey Devils to contribute funding for the entrance plaza. The other option is to dip into $4 million currently budgeted for other NHA projects.

"If it looks like we need to talk to the private stakeholders to have them engage in funding some of the gaps for the actual construction of the plaza, we'll do it," he said.

Devils owner Jeff Vanderbeek said city officials have told him the project will be finished by late spring. "We've been led to believe that everything will be done by May," he said.

Crawley, however, expects the entrance plaza to be complete by the fall.

Last week, a building on the corner of Market and Mulberry streets that formerly housed a Dunkin' Donuts and a dry cleaners was demolished by Mazzocchi Wrecking of East Hanover and paved over. The building that formerly housed Mesa Restaurante and before that Murphy's Tavern at 59 Edison is next in line for demolition.

The proposed plaza will offer arena-goers a space to congregate and a variety of vendors at temporary stands during the summer. It will be Newark's version of bustling Yawkey Way in Boston, where Red Sox fans gather on their way to Fenway Park.

The plaza is also seen as a key component to revitalizing downtown Newark.

"We want to use the arena as the anchor for development," said Vanderbeek.

He hopes the entrance plaza will generate a "carnival atmosphere," with between 1 ,200 and 1,500 people milling about. A 30-foot stainless steel statue of a hockey player will also occupy the space, and Vanderbeek is interested in bringing the 30-foot Pabst Blue Ribbon bottle from the old South Orange Avenue brewery to the space.

The NHA is working to acquire three remaining properties: a building owned by wig store proprietors Paul and Pauline Kim, the building that houses Jersey Janitors, and a two-lot parcel owned by Sol Moskowitz, who purchased the lots next to 59 Edison in April 2007 for $494,000.

In December, the NHA filed condemnation papers on the Kims as well as the owner of the building that houses Jersey Janitors, Crawley said, because negotiations had stalled. In January the Housing Authority reached a $1,104,000 agreement with 230 Market Street Corp., for the building that houses Jersey Janitors. The Kims have also reached a tentative agreement with the NHA for $665,000 after balking at the agency's initial appraisal of $575,000. However, a closing date has not been reached and both deals have yet to be finalized.

The NHA began negotiations with Moskowitz in March, according to Crawley.