Adjacent to NJ Transit’s Brick Church Station, The Crossings at Brick Church Station is transforming a long-underutilized commercial corridor into a vibrant, mixed-use downtown district in the heart of East Orange. The city’s largest redevelopment project, The Crossings, builds on decades of municipal planning to create a more walkable, connected, and equitable community centered around transit.

The phased development replaces outdated, auto-oriented uses with new housing, retail, public space, and pedestrian connections. Phase I, Embark at The Crossings, introduces approximately 400 residential units next to Brick Church Station, including 167 affordable homes. The mixed-income approach expands housing opportunity while placing residents within easy reach of regional rail, jobs, services, and downtown East Orange.

Creating and preserving amenities that serve the community is central to the project. A full-service ShopRite grocery store and Newark Community Health Center address longstanding gaps in access to essential food and healthcare services. The project also generates local employment opportunities, construction hiring, skills training, and support for neighborhood retailers. A new public promenade connects Main Street to Brick Church Station, while upgraded sidewalks, lighting, landscaping, outdoor gathering spaces, and activated ground-floor uses create a safer and more inviting pedestrian environment.

The path to completion required extensive coordination and careful phasing. One of the project’s greatest challenges was keeping the existing ShopRite open throughout construction, ensuring that residents did not lose access to an essential neighborhood resource. The development team constructed a new grocery store within a mixed-use building while accommodating residential uses above it, truck deliveries, waste management, parking, and multiple active street frontages.

Partnerships between the development team, the City of East Orange, and regional planning and transportation stakeholders have been critical to advancing the project. The redevelopment is also complemented by an $83 million federal investment to modernize Brick Church Station, strengthening the station’s accessibility and role as a regional mobility hub.

New Jersey Future is proud to recognize The Crossings at Brick Church Station with a 2026 Smart Growth Award. The project demonstrates how transit-oriented redevelopment can expand housing opportunities, bring essential services closer to residents, create vibrant public spaces, and catalyze investment in an existing urban community. By putting housing, jobs, retail, healthcare, and transit within reach of one another, The Crossings is helping create a more connected and equitable East Orange.