Newark Will Rent Cheap Space To Art Nonprofits: ‘Blight To Light’

NEWARK, NJ — A new ordinance in Newark will help to create cheap space for local arts programs, city officials say.

On Monday, Mayor Ras Baraka announced the Newark City Council passed a municipal ordinance that allows arts nonprofits to lease city-owned property for a mere $1 rent per year. Tenants would have to use the property for “arts, culture and educational programs” and would be barred from using the space for any “commercial, political, partisan, or sectarian purpose.”

If nonprofits fall in love with the spaces, they would have the option to purchase the property after five years.

Here’s how it will work, according to a news release from city officials:

“Under the ordinance, the Department of Administration, headed by Business Administrator Eric Pennington, will create and implement the leasing program to enable nonprofits to submit a proposal to lease city-owned property being made available. The business administrator will review the proposals and choose those he deems, in his sole independent discretion, as being in the best interest of the city.”

In addition:

“All lease agreements will be an initial one-year rent of $1, with four one-year options to renew at the same annual rent, each subject to Municipal Council approval. At the fifth year, the tenant will have the opportunity to purchase the land from the city at fair market value of the property at the time they rented it – meaning, before they began site improvements that would normally increase a property’s value.”

“Newark has a long history as a center of the arts and culture and non-profits that serve an essential role to our community,” Baraka said. “We can now begin to turn blight into light, and turn these properties into cultural centers that will both write new chapters in our artistic history and energize our present and future neighborhoods and generations of artists.”

Additional information about possible available properties and application procedures wasn't immediately available.

• See related article: Newark's Diverse Arts Scene Generates Big Bucks For City, Study Says
• See related article: Newark Among 'Most Vibrant Arts Communities' In Nation

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