Jeremiah Thomas was walking along Broad Street in Newark when he paused to look out at the 8-acre overgrown lot where Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium was demolished in 2019, and ambitious plans have raised then dashed hopes of redeveloping the site since then.
“I’m surprised that they’ve had three years, and they haven’t built anything,” said Jeremiah, 15, who in September will start a dual enrollment program as a freshman at Barringer High School and first-year student at Essex County College. “A lot of people could have used the housing. So many homeless people out here need it.”
Three years ago, on the recommendation of Mayor Ras J. Baraka’s administration, the Newark City Council approved a tax abatement plus $18 million in other financial help for a massive $2 billion project known as CitiSquare. The completed project would include 11 apartment towers with 4,200 market-rate and affordable units, which in renderings looked like a modern city unto itself overlooking the Passaic River…