March 26, 2015- Today NDC will joining project partners and developers at a Grand Opening Celebration for The Hotel Indigo in Newark, NJ. NDC worked in partnership with Newark’s Economic Development Agency to fill a financing gap for the rehabilitation of a 99 year old bank building into a hotel. The development of Hotel Indigo has had significant impact on reactivating the pedestrian environment and complimenting the emerging dining and entertainment district in the downtown area. The project is located in a low- income community with a poverty rate of 44.7%, median family income of 25.5% and unemployment rate of 4.21 times the national average. The address is also located in an Economic Development Hot Zone, a NJ Urban Enterprise Zone and the Four Corners Historic District of Newark.
Additional Community Impacts include, Creating a hospitality training program with Newark Works, The Department of Labor, and Essex County Collage. Over 80 Newark residents where trained with the program. Creating a vocational mentorship program with international Youth Organization (IYO) and mentored over 20 local young adults from the ages 15-25. During planning and development the Hotel created a contest through the Newark Arts Council to choose a local artist to do all of the murals in the building. All plants and greener is maintained locally by the Greater Newark Conservatory, and all coffee is supplied by local roaster TM Ward.
NDC’s $10 million Qualified Equity Investment in the $29.6 million project was combined with financing from US Bank, resulting in the projected creation of 150 construction jobs and 100 permanent jobs, 90% of which were hired from Newark Works.