Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis LLP is honored to be a primary partner and to be recognized with our fellow team members as proud recipients of a 2023 New Jersey Future Smart Growth Award for our efforts as redevelopment counsel to the Town of Westfield.
New Jersey Future has selected Westfield’s Lord & Taylor/Train Station Redevelopment Plan as one of this year’s seven winning projects for what it describes in its announcement as a “Bold new plan for reuse of a shuttered department store building and integrated green design strategies to reinvigorate Westfield and convert the space into a vibrant, mixed-use downtown.” Greenbaum is named as a primary partner alongside EJ Economic Development Advisors, HBC Streetworks Development, Topology, and the Town of Westfield.
Under the lead of Robert S. Goldsmith and Steven G. Mlenak, co-chairs of our Redevelopment & Land Use Department, and with support from Greenbaum attorneys Kenneth T. Bills, Michael J. Coskey, Jay A. Jaffe and David C. Scott, the firm’s services as redevelopment counsel encompass multiple projects throughout Westfield. For the past four years, our team has represented Westfield in negotiations over the transformative redevelopment of downtown Westfield with Streetworks Development (a subsidiary of the Hudson’s Bay Company), involving the former Lord & Taylor property and other municipally owned lots in the downtown area. This work has thus far included counseling with respect to the investigation and designation of the scattered properties as areas in need of redevelopment, the adoption of the redevelopment plan, the negotiation and preparation of the master redevelopment agreement and land disposition agreement, consultation with respect to the financial components of the project, and the negotiation and preparation of a public improvements construction agreement. Greenbaum is currently representing Westfield in the further design and implementation of the project.
New Jersey Future’s mission is to promote sensible and equitable growth, redevelopment, and infrastructure investments to foster healthy, strong, and resilient communities. The Smart Growth Awards honor projects, plans, and policies across the state that demonstrate these smart growth principles in action. Since 2002, more than 130 projects have been honored with Smart Growth Awards. Winners are selected from a statewide public nomination process by an independent jury. The awards are intended to shine a spotlight on individuals, businesses, and organizations with the vision to encourage smart growth values and designs.
The Greenbaum team and our fellow honorees will be recognized at the 2023 Smart Growth Awards celebration on October 3, 2023, at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center. Additional information about the event is available on the New Jersey Future website.