NJ Transit says development deals could yield $1.9B
By: Colleen Wilson
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
ISLIN - The top floor of a parking garage next to the Metropark train station might have seemed like an unusual place hold a news conference promoting NJ transit;s new real estate plan, but it was purposeful for Kris Kolluri.
......
In the background of the parking garage is the fast-rising new headquarter for Hackensack Meridian Health, part of a deal NJ Transit struck last year [2024] that would build housing a "comprehensive health network" and other retail opportunities at a major transit hub - while generating revenue for the agency.
..... Koluri, NJ Transit's president and CEO, wanted to send a message to developers that the agency can do - and is already doing - what has been talked about for years; leverage NJ Transit's vast real estate portfolio to develop housing, retail, commercial and industrial opportunities.
..... "Leveraging assets for non-fare dollars is truly - was truly - my day one objective," Kolluri, who joined the agency in January, [2025] said at the pass press conference on October 15. [2025]
..... "What we are doing now is setting a road map not just for this administration, but for the next governor to say how do you take a non-monetized asset and put it into use and come up with a host of benefits for the entire state," he said.
..... The agency estimates it could generate up to $1.9 billion through a combination of development deals on underused NJ Transit properties, temporary sues like events and filming, improved retail opportunities, advertising, parking solar and wetlands banking.
..... For
the last nine months, NJ Transit's real estate team has analyzed its 8,000 acres of property and come up with a plan to develop about 10% of those parcels and other ways to monetize its assets over the next 10 years.
..... At the agency's current pace, it could build about 400 to 500 residential unites per year on NJ transit property, but Kolluri wants to supercharge this and accelerate that growth by five or 10 times hat, which would mean 14,000 to 20,000 new housing units by 2035.
.....
"The pace of this action is only limited by the ambition of the collaborators aorta us," said Gagandeep Singh, who led the agency's real estate analysis. Singh was head of global real estate for American Express and Kolluri hired him to be a part-time senior adviser for real estate. "Without that pace, we will not make a difference."
.....
To go hyperdirve, the agency will need to hire more project manages, streamline processes and work with the state Legislature to support the agency with financing, land use requisition and policies that facilitate smarter development.
..... the benefits transcend NJ Transit, the official said. These is economic opportunity for municipalities trying to grow downtowns and increasing housing, which can increase municipality revenues up to $1.6 billion, according OT NJ transit's analysis.
.....
Woodbridge Mayor John McCormac counted himself a skeptic who wasn't sure about the Hackensack Meridian plan and how it would help the municipalities around it.
..... "when it first came up, I was skittish about it because I didn't want this to be an apartment complex that had an office bungling. What we got is an office building with some apartments and what we have is not an office building, it's a headquarters," McCormac said.
..... Investments in nearby train stations have also helped downtowns flourish, McCormac said.
..... "Downtown Woodbridge would not be what it was if we didn't have an NJ Transit station there and that has turned our downtown completely around," he said. "we were headed for a ghost town and now we're a thriving downtown."
.....
At least one sale has already gone through, NJ Transit's board voted in executive session in May [2025= to authorize Kolluri to move forward with the $14.4 million sale of a 4.66-acre parking lot in Lyndhurst to the sate Economic Development Authority.
..... The EDA received $100 million from legislation passed by the state Legislature and signed by Governor Phil Murphy to purchase properties from NJ Transit that can be sued to generate development, more ridership and revenue for the agency.
.....
Showing a willingness to work with developers and get deals done was welcome news for Gregory Dell'Aquila, CEO of JDA Group, LLC, who develops property with the transit agency on several parciels.
.....
"Developers ahve been watiing, we've been waiiting and we've tried to make this happen with NJ Transit in different leaderships of the past," Dell'Aquila said.
.....
"They're putting together a comprehensive plan with timelines,: he said. "That to me speaks business, that speaks seriousness, that speaks they know what they're doing, they put it together to pas off, so I am confident."