Table Of ContentNEW BRUNSWICK,
NEW JERSEY
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RIVERGATE REGIONALS
Rivergate Regionals is a collection of books pub-
lished by Rutgers University Press focusing on
New Jersey and the surrounding area. Since its
founding in 1936, Rutgers University Press has
been devoted to serving the people of New Jer-
sey and this collection solidifies that tradition.
The books in the Rivergate Regionals Collection
explore history, politics, nature and the environ-
ment, recreation, sports, health and medicine,
and the arts. By incorporating the collection
within the larger Rutgers University Press edito-
rial program, the Rivergate Regionals Collection
enhances our commitment to publishing the
best books about our great state and the sur-
rounding region.
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NEW BRUNSWICK,
NEW JERSEY
The Decline
and Revitalization
of Urban America
David Listokin,
Dorothea Berkhout,
and James W. Hughes
Rutgers University Press
New Brunswick, New Jersey, and London
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Listokin, David, author. | Berkhout, Dorothea, author. | Hughes, James W., author.
Title: New Brunswick, New Jersey : the decline and revitalization of urban America /
David Listokin, Dorothea Berkhout, James W. Hughes.
Description: New Brunswick : Rutgers University Press, 2016. | Series: Rivergate regionals
collection | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015032493| ISBN 9780813575148 (hardback) | ISBN 9780813575575
(e-book (epub)) | ISBN 9780813575582 (e-book (web pdf))
Subjects: LCSH: City planning—New Jersey—New Brunswick. | Cities and towns—
Growth. | New Brunswick (N.J.)—History—21st century. | BISAC: HISTORY / United
States / State & Local / Middle Atlantic (DC, DE, MD, NJ, NY, PA). | POLITICAL
SCIENCE / Public Policy / City Planning & Urban Development. | BUSINESS &
ECONOMICS / Urban & Regional. | SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / Urban. | TRAVEL /
United States / Northeast / Middle Atlantic (NJ, NY, PA). | PHOTOGRAPHY / Subjects &
Themes / Regional (see also TRAVEL / Pictorials).
Classification: LCC HT168.N3457 L57 2016 | DDC 307.7609749/42—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015032493
A British Cataloging-in Publication record for this book is available from the
British Library.
Copyright © 2016 by David Listokin, Dorothea Berkhout, and James W. Hughes
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without
written permission from the publisher. Please contact Rutgers University Press, 106
Somerset Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901. The only exception to this prohibition is
“fair use” as defined by U.S. copyright law.
Visit our website: http://rutgerspress.rutgers.edu
Manufactured in the United States of America
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CONTENTS
Preface and Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vii
List of Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ix
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1. The Economy of New Brunswick: A City Reinventing Itself
from Inian’s Ferry to the Information Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
PHOTO ESSAY . The Corner of Albany and George Streets: The Remarkable
Transformation of New Brunswick’s Commercial Crossroads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2. The People of New Brunswick: Population and Resident Profile over Time . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3. The National Context of Urban Revitalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
4. New Brunswick Transformation: Challenge and Strategic Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85
PHOTO ESSAY . The Transformation of Seminary Hill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .118
5. New Brunswick Transformation:
Critical Projects in a Multi-Decade Revitalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
6. Looking to the Past and Future of New Brunswick
and National Urban Revitalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Appendix A . New Brunswick Oral History Interviews, 2009–2015:
Biographical Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Appendix B . New Brunswick Redevelopment and Economic History: A Timeline . . . . . 229
Appendix C . Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .237
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .251
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
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PREFACE AND
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THIS BOOK has its origins in two different projects. One was a set of oral histories
conducted by Dorothea Berkhout and David Listokin with twenty-four individuals
who were involved in or present during the major phases of the redevelopment of
New Brunswick. The other was a Rutgers University first-year Byrne seminar on cities,
at which James Hughes presented a pictorial history of the transformation of New
Brunswick. Marlie Wasserman, director of Rutgers University Press, encouraged the
authors to consider using this material in a book that also would set the redevelop-
ment of New Brunswick in a national context of transformation of cities.
We are greatly indebted to a number of individuals who assisted us in the re-
search and writing of this book. First and foremost are the twenty-four people who
agreed to be interviewed, resulting in the many hours of oral histories that provided
the basis for this book. The names and biographies of these individuals are included
in an appendix, but we would like to mention in particular John Heldrich and Ralph
Voorhees, who have since passed away; both were instrumental in revitalizing New
Brunswick over several decades.
Others who provided a great deal of assistance with the history of New Brunswick
and photographs of the city include Thomas Frusciano and Erica Gorder of the Rut-
gers University Libraries Special Collections Department; Robert Belvin, Kim Adams,
Kim Kirkley, Jackie Oshman, and Hsienmin Chen of the New Brunswick Free Public
Library; Margaret Gurowitz of Johnson & Johnson; Peter Haigney of the Robert Wood
Johnson University Hospital and Tabiri Chukunta of Saint Peter’s University Hospital;
Glenn Patterson of the City of New Brunswick; Omar, Sam, and Wasseem Boraie of Bo-
raie Development; and Christopher Paladino and Jean Holtz of the New Brunswick
vii
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viii PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Development Corporation. In addition, we thank George “Red” Ellis and Jacqueline
“Jacque” Rubel, who provided us with their family photographs.
At the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers, The
State University of New Jersey, we would like to thank Tamara Swedberg and Martin
O’Reilly for their technical support with the oral history voice and video recordings;
Karyn Olsen for her design and production skills working with photographs, figures,
tables, and maps; Jennifer Whytlaw for her GIS mapmaking skills; Will Irving for pro-
viding important employment information for chapter 2; and Frances Loeser for keep-
ing track of our grant expenditures. Also deserving special mention are Marc Weiner
and Orin Puniello, who provided quantitative analysis and interpretation of data from
the Rutgers University Eagleton Institute of Politics’ periodic survey of New Brunswick
residents in chapter 6.
Many outstanding Rutgers University students who assisted the undertaking de-
serve our special thanks. Author of an honors undergraduate thesis on New Bruns-
wick, Eric Schkrutz undertook multifaceted research for us and wrote portions of
chapter 2, including those on Native Americans, immigrant, racial, and ethnic groups;
portions of chapter 6; and the appendix descriptions of the interviewees of oral histo-
ries conducted by Dorothea Berkhout and David Listokin. Gabriel Sherman gathered
extensive socioeconomic data and wrote portions of chapter 2, especially those on
quantitative national, New Jersey, and New Brunswick immigration, racial, and ethnic
trends; he also contributed significantly to chapter 6. Katie Brennan wrote on school
construction in New Brunswick in chapter 5. Other exemplary assistance was pro-
vided by Rutgers University students Kate Davidoff, Jena Fagan, Leigh Hindenlang,
Steven Malick, Prutha Patel, Swetha Ramkumar, and Loveleen Saran.
The entire project would not have been possible without support from our
funders, including the Rutgers University Office of Academic Affairs, which supplied
the seed money for the oral histories, as did several developers involved in projects in
New Brunswick: Foglio & Associates; Garfield Foundation c/o Baldwin Brothers Inc.;
Keating Building Corporation; New Brunswick Development Corporation; and Penn-
rose Development LLC. Their contributions enabled us to conduct, record, videotape,
transcribe, and summarize the oral history interviews.
Finally, we thank Marlie Wasserman, director of Rutgers University Press, whose
guidance and patience are greatly appreciated, and Gretchen Oberfranc for her sub-
stantive editing of the early drafts of our manuscript.
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ABBREVIATIONS
ACC American City Corporation
ACHP Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
ARRA American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
BMIR below-market interest rate
CBD central business district
CDBG Community Development Block Grants
CDC community development corporation
CDE Community Development Entity
CDFI Community Development Financial Institution
CRA Community Reinvestment Act
CRDA Casino Reinvestment Development Authority
DCA Department of Community Affairs
DEVCO New Brunswick Development Corporation
EDA Economic Development Authority
EDI Economic Development Initiative
EPTR equalized property tax rate
EZ, UEZ enterprise zone, urban enterprise zone
FHA Federal Housing Administration
GSE government-sponsored enterprise
HHMPA Historic Hiram Market Preservation Association
HUD Department of Housing and Urban Development
LIC low-income community
ix
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x ABBREVIATIONS
LIHTC low-income housing tax credit
LISC Local Initiatives Support Corporation
LMI low- and moderate-income
LPC local preservation commission
MCIA Middlesex County Improvement Authority
MRI municipal revitalization index
NBCC New Brunswick Cultural Center
NBHA New Brunswick Housing Authority
NBPA New Brunswick Parking Authority
NBT New Brunswick Tomorrow
NEPA National Environmental Policy Act
NHPA National Historic Preservation Act
NHTF National Housing Trust Fund
NJRA New Jersey Redevelopment Authority
NMTC New Markets Tax Credit
PILOT payment in lieu of taxes
PPP public-private partnership
PWA Public Works Administration
QLICI qualified low-income community investment
RC Renewal Community
RCA Regional Contribution Agreement (New Jersey)
RFC Reconstruction Finance Corporation
RTC rehabilitation tax credit
SHPO State Historic Preservation Office
TBS tax base sharing
TIF tax increment financing
TOD transit-oriented development
UDAG Urban Development Action Grant
UDC Urban Development Corporation
UMDNJ University of Medicine and Dentistry
of New Jersey (Rutgers)
UTHTC Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit
VA Veterans Administration
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