New Jersey Future Announces Honorees for 2024 Smart Growth Awards
TRENTON, NJ—New Jersey Future (NJF) is proud to announce this year’s award winning projects and leadership honoree as part of their 22nd annual Smart Growth Awards. The awards ceremony will be held on October 22, 2024 at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center. This year’s winners include redevelopment projects that embrace mixed-use and accessory dwelling units, a park that is bringing communities together on the riverbank, and a forward-thinking planning effort designed to improve the city’s affordable housing.
New Jersey Future has honored smart planning and redevelopment in New Jersey through the Smart Growth Awards since 2002, totaling over 150 projects. The projects and plans featured throughout the award series represent the best examples of sustainable growth and redevelopment in the Garden State.
New Jersey Future wishes to congratulate all the winning teams and also thanks the many generous sponsors that make this event happen. For the first time, scholarships are being offered to diversify the field of those who will have access to this insider opportunity to learn more about smart land use and to network with influencers in policy making and sustainability practices for resilient communities. By practicing inclusivity and actively inviting attendees free of charge, New Jersey Future aims to expand the diversity of the planning profession and policymaking world through our signature event.
This year, New Jersey Future is honoring only one individual with its Leadership Award, the late Ingrid Reed, who was a founding member of New Jersey Future and former chair of the board of trustees. Reed was a dedicated advocate who emboldened others to plan thoughtfully and comprehensively for the usage of the precious, limited supply of land in New Jersey to safeguard its future. Reed was the ultimate booster and a model citizen, who worked tirelessly to advance opportunities and gave her time generously to a vast network of New Jerseyans who shared her commitment to fostering a brighter future for the state.
New Jersey Future’s Executive Director Pete Kasabach comments, “We’re proud to recognize another great group of projects and plans in New Jersey which demonstrate a commitment to smart growth and advance our progress as a state to practice sustainability and inclusivity. Whether you are a municipal leader, planner, or developer in our state, the six projects we have chosen to honor this year are shining examples of best practices and remarkable achievements, worthy of commendation and emulation.”
Reporters and media members are encouraged to contact New Jersey Future for further information and contact information for each of the project teams.
2024 Smart Growth Award Winners
20 Littleton Avenue, Newark
Mixed-use, mixed income housing development in partnership with local hospital featuring ground floor healthcare services and 78 units of affordable housing, including for individuals experiencing homelessness, in Newark’s Fairmount neighborhood.
Primary Partners: C+C Apartment Management, City of Newark, L+M Development Partners, New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, University Hospital
Housing Authority of the City of Hoboken Redevelopment Plan, Hoboken
Mixed-use Redevelopment Plan to replace over 1,300 existing public housing units, establish new open space, and upgrade infrastructure to reduce flood hazard and increase accessibility while extending the street grid to better integrate Housing Authority properties into the City of Hoboken.
Primary Partners: Arup, City of Hoboken, Heyer, Gruel & Associates, Housing Authority of the City of Hoboken, WRT
Musconetcong Island Park, Bethlehem Township
Demolition of an abandoned two-story concrete block laboratory and conversion of its staircase and footprint into an accessible riparian park space that enables fishing, wading, paddling and hiking in Bethlehem Township.
Primary Partners: Harrington Construction, Musconetcong Watershed Association, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Princeton Hydro, Township of Bethlehem
Parkview AP, Asbury Park
Redevelopment of longtime vacant lot in Asbury Park’s Westside providing twenty new housing units with a range of affordability options by combining homeownership with accessory dwelling units for rent. Integral part of the neighborhood revitalization plan, including an early childhood center.
Primary Partners: County of Monmouth, Benjamin Harvey Company, Inc., Interfaith Neighbors, Inc., New Jersey Natural Gas, Shore Point Architecture
Terhune Harrison Mixed Use Village, Princeton
Transformational redevelopment knitting together several residential and commercial sites to form a revitalized suburban mixed-use village with affordable housing in Princeton.
Primary Partners: AvalonBay Communities, The Alice Princeton, LRK, Municipality of Princeton, Phillips Preiss Grygiel Leheny Hughes
The Nell at Dunellen Station, Dunellen
Transit adjacent conversion of a brownfield industrial site into a major mixed-use housing and retail development that builds pedestrian-friendly connections to neighborhood amenities and Dunellen’s downtown.
Primary Partners: Borough of Dunellen, Dynamic Engineering Consultants PC, Menlo Engineering Associates, Inc., Prism Capital Partners, Spiezle Architectural Group
2024 Leadership Award
New Jersey Future’s Leadership Award recognizes individuals who have an outstanding commitment to improving quality of life and promoting smart growth in New Jersey through sustainable land-use policy and practice.
Ingrid Reed
Founding member of New Jersey Future and past board of trustees chair, Reed was a public policy professional who built and leveraged her network and knowledge to advance civic life in New Jersey as a supporter of forward-thinking, sustainability-based planning, journalism, arts, and the City of Trenton.
