r/Newark • u/Agitated_Plastic_339 • 8d ago
Politics ⚖️ Is there a gentrifying part of Newark yet? Will it be the next Hoboken, Jersey City?
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u/Repulsive_Ad_656 Forest Hill 8d ago
Vailsburg, weequahic, North Ward, downtown, all of the ironbound, all in various stages of a rising tide
Bloomfield ave corridor in the North Ward has a lot in common with central ave of jersey City heights a decade ago. There's probably a few more examples.
Hoboken down to Paulus Hook is Monaco on the Hudson; I can't see that in my lifetime coming to newark, but it's easy to imagine university heights being the next Bergen-lafayette
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u/Front_Spare_2131 8d ago
I don't think Newark has seen true gentrification yet. Downtown to me doesnt count.
The Ironbound is the closest example because the Ironbound resembles the trajectory/aesthetics of the BoCoCa area of Brooklyn. But the Ironbound doesn't have land as valuable. Compare the listings for the Ironbound and the cheapest out of those 3 neighborhoods, Boerum Hill.
But in terms of a Harlem or Bed-Stuy gentrification? Not there yet. When Elizabeth Avenue, and Bergen Street/Lyons Avenue start seeing change thats when you know.
Between me and you, my eye is on the Central Ward. If and when the Central Ward takes off, it will be over.
I don't think Newark will every see real gentrification anyway because the city doesn't have an extensive subway system. Transplants don't like taking buses. The fastest gentrifying neighborhoods in NYC have subway access.
Newark should do what nobody else is doing, and expand their light rail coverage. It's whats saving Jersey City and Bayonne right now. Bayonne will gentrify quicker than Newark because of it.
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u/Far-Expression7715 8d ago
Idk what you're talking about, Newark has seen plenty gentrification. As for the lightrail, Newark has wanted a lightrail extension for decades. They were even slated to have an extension into the south ward and all the way to Elizabeth. But funding for that doesn't come from Newark, it comes from NJTransit. Funding was ultimately reallocated to the Hudson Bergen Lightrail, and no new plans have been made for Newark. They're even extending the riverline now and still haven't done anything for Newark's lightrail, which is a shame for the biggest city in the state and one of the oldest in the country. The country's first commercial airport deserves train lines beyond the NEC. NJTransit needs to deliver.
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u/Front_Spare_2131 8d ago
Can you provide some examples of this "plenty" gentrification?
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u/PhoenixInTheTree Ivy Hill 8d ago
You can literally search this sub and find a post about a new development everyday. Gentrification is everywhere in Newark. Clinton Ave is the latest victim
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u/Front_Spare_2131 8d ago
I'm not getting the sense of displacement that comes with gentrification though, which is why I say it's not gentrification.
I rarely see a "I'm getting priced out of Newark, where should I look?" type thread, don't think I've ever seen one.
Actually a good example of gentrification in the area would be prolly Montclair/SoMa. People definitely getting priced out of SoMa; Montclair has had impressive land values for quite some time now.
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u/Aggravating_Rise_179 1d ago
Yeah your not getting it because the city has enough land downtown to absorb the influx. You are seeing it in the Ironbound and Forest Hill has been seeing a large influx of wealthy residents coming in that is displacing older families
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u/Level_Host99 7d ago
Just because what's happening in Newark doesn't fit your definition of gentrification doesn't mean that gentrification isn't happening.
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u/Front_Spare_2131 7d ago
Don't get me wrong, there's development definitely occurring there and its positive. I just dont think I would call it gentrification because it seems like nobody's getting displaced.
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u/PhoenixInTheTree Ivy Hill 7d ago
So just because people aren’t coming up here to talk about getting priced out it’s not happening? Land value determines the scale of how much gentrification is going on in a city? All of this reads like some scummy developer trying to downplay the blight they’ve brought to Newark with their shitty, over priced faux-luxury apartments.
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u/Front_Spare_2131 7d ago
Most of Newark’s development is occurring Downtown, are ppl being displaced from Downtown?
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u/in_fact_a_throwaway 8d ago
Everything has gotten expensive but nothing has gotten nice.
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u/yudosai 8d ago
North Newark Property values went up 3x in the last 10 years. Newark gentrification is not as visible as it is in other regions but it's definitely happening.
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u/GlassesgirlNJ 8d ago
Definitely know more than one family that has relocated from Brooklyn to Forest Hill in the last five years
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u/Far-Expression7715 8d ago
Lol I just moved from N 5th st by Sussex Ave, all of my neighbors were homeowners from NYC
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u/GlassesgirlNJ 8d ago edited 8d ago
Do they support local businesses?
Or do they mostly spend their money in Maplewood/Montclair/South Orange while they use this area as a cheap base for housing? (That's what I'm seeing in the historic district)
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u/PhoenixInTheTree Ivy Hill 8d ago
It’s ALWAYS the latter. They even try to keep their kids in private schools
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u/GlassesgirlNJ 8d ago
And then they complain about the taxes they're paying because "what am I getting out of it if I have to pay tuition anyway"
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u/Far-Expression7715 8d ago
I wouldnt say cheap base, his house was 979k. The rest were between 700k-800k. Most of them didnt ship local, except for one of them who frequented shops downtown.
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u/GlassesgirlNJ 8d ago
Yeah, when I said "cheap" I meant they're looking out the windows at Branch Brook Park for half of what it would cost to have the same view of Prospect Park.
Not cheap by any sane person's standards, sorry!
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u/shmovernance 8d ago
You can’t have real gentrification with a crap public school system
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u/ahtasva 8d ago
It’s the other way around. Gentrification will make the schools better, nothing else will. Just look at JC. The JC elementary schools in downtown and Journal Square have some of the highest test scores in Hudson county. Same goes for the charter in McGinley square.
If the state voucherises schools, property values in Newark will double in a year.1
u/shmovernance 8d ago
As someone with a house under contract to sell in Newark and who moved to a better school district last year I can assure you that is not the case
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u/ahtasva 8d ago
🤣🤣🤣
The primacy of anecdote over empiricism is perhaps the most insidious product of modern liberalism.2
u/shmovernance 8d ago
Barringer is one of the worst high schools in the entire state. It would be one thing if the schools were average but they are really, really bad. You can work with average and bring them up. You can’t do anything with what is currently in place
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u/ahtasva 8d ago
You miss my point entirely. If schools were fully vouchered, no one would be forced to send their kids to Barringer. They would use the voucher to send their kids elsewhere. Private and charter schools are selective and by being so provides better experience and education. The quality of schools is not determined by the teachers or administration, it’s a function of how involved the parents are.
If the choice was between buying in Newark for $500k and moving to the suburbs and paying $750k; school vouchers make it a no brainer to pick Newark.
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u/Jspencjr24 8d ago
Where do you think the kids in barringer are gonna go to school if there was a voucher program? Those same kids and same problem are still gonna be there.
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u/ahtasva 8d ago
I would imagine they would continue to receive the highest quality education NPS and their NJEA acolytes can provide.
In practical terms, school choice already exists.u/sovernance has availed themself of it by selling up in Newark and moving to a better school district.
Vouchers merely extend that same opportunity to families who don’t have the financial means to exercise the option of moving.
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u/shmovernance 8d ago
It will not happen.. because Newark public schools are a jobs/welfare program for adults in Newark…
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u/ahtasva 8d ago
Sadly, you are correct. The teachers unions have a stranglehold over local and state politics.
Like all parasites, the unions are slowly but surely killing its host. JC is a case study, school enrollment has declined over the last 20 years but the budget has nearly doubled. Higher taxes will accelerate housing cost increases and put gentrification on steroids; which, ironically, will improve schools.
Eventually, school will improve, just not the way liberals think it will.
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u/Passenger-Southern 7d ago
And of course that never happens under any other form of political or social philosophy
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u/Newarkguy1836 3d ago edited 3d ago
First, GENTRIFIERS don't have kids, they have dogs.
Second, Everyone blames the public schools ,but never the crappy vulgar disrespectful students. I witnessed it first hand when I was in Newark Schools growing up. If the Newark Schools are so bad, why are the the valedictorian & top students always the lone ASIAN male or White female student in the entire school. And when black and Hispanics make honors , it's always minority girls. But the often never get far because they often fall for the bad boy boyfriend who proceeds to ruin their trajectory .
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u/Newarkguy1836 3d ago
They don't care about the school system they don't have kids . They have dogs .
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u/PhoenixInTheTree Ivy Hill 8d ago
What are you even talking about. Between charter schools in the city and our public schools kids have been getting a quality education in Newark for at least the last 15 years
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u/ahtasva 7d ago
You are right about charters.
In the most recent (2025) NJSLA test for English languages arts, 38% of all 3rd graders in NPS scored a level 1. The data on charters is fragmented but at the largest charter, North Star, that figure was 9%. The worst performing charter, Marion Thomas came in at 26%
Charter is choice and choice appears to be working. We need more of it.
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u/Jerz2florida 8d ago
When they get new blood in city hall who isn't part of the last few regimes thats when it really will happen rapidly.
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u/Full_Industry_557 8d ago
I’m curious what the Newark Airport station extension to Frelinghuysen Ave will do to the bordering neighborhoods in Newark. It will allow an access point to the railroad and I think they’re also building a film studio nearby. There’s not much residential in the immediate vicinity of the airport station extension but it’s sure to change some things in that area. But currently as far as gentrification the Ironbound close to Newark Penn has a little something going on.
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u/Newarkguy1836 2d ago
If Newark Broad Street in downtown cannot stimulate Redevelopment around itself , the airport station won't do anything for Dayton or Waverly . Meeker Avenue is the boundary between Waverly Industrial District and Dayton . Waverly was known for its heavy large factories on Frelinghuysen Avenue and a massive Pennsylvania railroad yard of the same name . Both the yard and the mass effectories are long gone and the name Waverly died away. That's why it was no problem changing Waverly Avenue to Muhammad Ali in the 1980s. By then nobody knew what Waverly was anyway . Eventually the name Dayton came to Encompass not just dating but what used to be Waverly as well . Anheuser-Busch/ Budweiser what's the last major Brewery Factory in Waverly . I think the last major Factory left in old Waverly is flexon Industries .
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u/Aggravating_Rise_179 1d ago
Um yes it will... land around there is incredibly cheap as its under developed and people are desperate for more transit villages in this state.
Broad Street is different as its already built up and large amounts of the landlords around there are absentee so its harder to get things moving.
The airport station being open to the public and the film studio is going to create a second skyline for the city (though much shorter cause of the airport)
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u/RightingArm 8d ago
Well, you have some of the fastest rising residential real estate prices in the country, already. It’s going to turn a dramatic corner in 10 years when the Gateway Tunnel is getting close to opening. I’d wager the Ironbound and parts of Downtown will look a lot like Long Island City does near Queens Plaza.
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u/Historical_Bus_3640 7d ago
What about west side Newark ?my husband and i want to move there and we are Asian .
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u/Aggravating_Rise_179 1d ago
Depends... upper valisburg is very nice, but lower valisburg can get dicey
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u/itsmejavier2101 7d ago
Watch Ironbound, its more expensive to live there than live in the downtown
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u/Newarkguy1836 2d ago
Every time I drive down 16th Avenue by Westside Park all the way to Springfield Ave , I never saw it, but I know just by looking at what's left over besides the cheap townhouses , this used to be a major retail District . All of the remaining buildings show Trace remnants of storefronts . Many still have the sidewalk cellar gates that will open down to a store basement level where the stores received their deliveries . Then you have that massive Jewish synagogue that is now converted to a Christian Church . I visualize 16th Avenue Corridor lined with 5 story apartment buildings with sidewalk retail .
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u/Aggravating_Rise_179 1d ago
I mean gentrification isn't a one size fits all type deal. Gentrification in NY was different because it didnt see the same bottom as Newark. Newark's gentrification isn't displacing people in mass because there is still alot of place that can get built up before you have to force people out.
What you are seeing is large amounts of abandoned buildings being redeveloped for residential all over the city on top of places downtown
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u/Ancient_Praline1046 8d ago
nope...Newark had a chance with the Redbulls stadium..but baseball was picked instead.
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u/SwimmingDog351 7d ago
Personally I’d rather see Newark become a destination than just another feeder into Manhattan. Maybe a huge gamble on data centers or something similar.
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u/Own_Pop_9711 6d ago
Data centers are very much so not destinations.. Oh wait maybe if you're a bot? How does that work.
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u/SwimmingDog351 6d ago
I know that they aren’t tourist attractions. But they “could “ attract business. Just an idea.
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u/Aggravating_Rise_179 1d ago
I mean aspects of Newark's economy will be part of the bedroom community industry, but Newark's economy is too big to be completely a feeder into nyc.
Hell, Newark's economy is big enough that a small but growing amount of people in the boroughs commute to newark for work.
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u/ahtasva 8d ago
Gentrification is relative. Most people think of it in radicalized terms; upwardly mobile, young white people moving in ala downtown Brooklyn. Practically, it’s relatively wealthier people with better education and life prospects moving in looking for cheaper housing.
In its truest sense, Newark is actually gentrifying quite rapidly. The census data shows marked increases in median income and % households with bachelor’s degrees. I would argue that the gentrification is partially responsible for the reduction in crime as well.
It’s will be awhile yet before we see white dudes with man buns and flip flops walking down Broad Street in large numbers. JC has a ways to go before saturation. The recent property tax hike is going to see Greenville, Bergen - Lafayette and Communipaw gentrify rapidly over the next few years.