The new Gateway Center sucks

Submitted by Echos_myron123 t3_10gky22 in Newark

Say what you will about the old Gateway Center, but it was at least open until midnight 7-days a week. The new Gateway Center is open M - F and closes at 7pm. It's not meant for people who actually live here and is now even more of a fortress to protect office commuters from "the poors." They have beefed up security at all entrances, which is a clear attempt to keep out the homeless. They used Covid as an excuse to gentrify the Gateway Center. Sure, the old Gateway Center also sucked, but at least I could walk to and from the station at night which is better than now.

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thebruns t1_j53dav6 wrote

Help us fix it.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Newark/comments/y0wgsb/i_did_an_opra_on_gateway_and/

We need other people to contact the city and the council-members

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tintedglassvoice t1_j54t5c4 wrote

Contact Silva’s office in particular. It is in the East Ward for some goofy reason.

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Ironboundian t1_j54t0qr wrote

I read that whole agreement. I think you are on to something.

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mdt2113 t1_j53oezd wrote

The whole idea of the gateway center sucks. Have stores on the street level! It’s just makes Newark a deadzone from penn to mulberry. That they have these awful hours is insult to injury.

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NewNewark t1_j53jpkv wrote

>The new Gateway Center is open M - F and closes at 7pm.

I posted this in the chip city thread but they confirmed their hours will be 10am-6pm. Designed to exclude people who live in Newark.

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LateNightNewYork t1_j53dnvg wrote

“We’re going to right a historical wrong and connect this place to the community.”

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Rainbowrobb t1_j54zyhq wrote

I always get downvoted for pointing out much of the development is for commuters and those who only want an apartment but really live in NY. Meanwhile the developers are handed multidecade tax abatements. So the current residents are partially financing development for a contingent who will only be working and not living in the city.

Call your council person. Know their name and make sure they know yours.

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HudsonGuy91 t1_j548tzd wrote

Well, this is...not encouraging. (Though I laughed out loud at the topic.) I hope to finally explore the new Gateway in the next few days. I've really been oddly clueless about the whole renovation, including thinking some spots WOULD be at street level. Did I dream that being an original intention? I was excited to see Chip City opening next week, but indeed rolled my eyes when I saw the 6pm closing time.

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NewNewark t1_j55qoj1 wrote

There is supposed to be two street level retails, one by Penn, and a tiny one on Market but neither are leased

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Professional_Heat_73 t1_j557aqd wrote

How does one submit an OPRA request?

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ScrollHectic t1_j567jbu wrote

Are we upset about the walkway being closed or the businesses? I agree, it would be great for the walkway to stay open late. I'm not sure how fair it is to force the businesses to stay open if they don't have the customers to support the cost of staying open late or on weekends. Downtown is still more or less dead evenings and weekends except for when there is an event. American Whisky and Redds outside of events rarely have people there and they both stay open late and on weekends. I don't see how a place selling cookies and without a liquor license is going to buck that trend. If the downtown restaurants aren't a destination yet, I'm not sure how the Gateway restaurants will be just because the walkway is open later. There just isn't enough critical mass, even with all the new development.

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LateNightNewYork t1_j570rpb wrote

There will never be critical mass if businesses continue to be erected at the exclusion of the 300,000+ people that actually live here. Trying to gentrify a 90% minority city with chains aimed at a small number of commuters is such a dumb strategy. Nobody moved to Jersey City or Brooklyn for Teriyaki Madness.

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iborg089 t1_j5821mw wrote

Your comment makes the more sense on this thread. And you are right, downtown at night and on weekends in basically a dead zone. Many people are just looking at something to be upset about, instead of complaining we could support the businesses with street level store fronts. I went to redd's a couple times when there were no events, and most of the time i was the only one in there or with (maybe) two other patrons. "Just Beclaw's" seafood place did not survive, dinosaur bbq and Joe's Crab Shack either. The new restaurant ( MAD FOR CHICKEN) is always empty.

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Echos_myron123 OP t1_j5aki9e wrote

The walkway is a public safety issue. People shouldn't have to cross the six lane McCarter Highway to get between downtown and the train station. It is not just about the businesses.

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thebruns t1_j56a3rf wrote

American Whiskey closes at 8pm on non-event days fyi

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OpportunityPlayful70 t1_j5avdz7 wrote

Downtown newark in general is a complete joke

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sutisuc t1_j5b8fm7 wrote

For real. It’s more like a dead rust belt Midwest city than the largest city in the densest state in the country 20 minutes from Manhattan.

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OpportunityPlayful70 t1_j5bdo2t wrote

I’m born, raised, lived and work in newark and the downtown has never been good, clean, maintained or attractive

Obviously I know there’s other factors at play with poverty, homelessness, drug addiction, etc… and I don’t want to minimize the effects of these problems & their impacts on on the mainstay population

But man, It’s embarrassing.

I can’t lie, it’s nice to see other towns’ downtown area welcoming to small businesses, nightlife and foot traffic.

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Marv95 t1_j54a249 wrote

It will be open after games/events at the Rock, I thought.

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tintedglassvoice t1_j54t97e wrote

While that’s true, it still focuses on catering to people outside of Newark.

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NewNewark t1_j55qstb wrote

The Instagram account deleted the entire thread on that topic. Walked by wednesday at 8ish when a game was getting out and it was closed

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Juicey_J_Hammerman t1_j57d8g2 wrote

They confirmed in an Instagram comment reply it would open for up to 2 hours after events finished on game dates.

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felsonj t1_j56xsie wrote

I don’t agree with the demands here. Some of these speciality eateries have a relatively low rate of succeeding in general, and now post COVID? Retailers downtown are struggling. And inside Gateway? Fuhgeddaboutit. What’s the occupancy rate of that complex these days? When I walk through there I could hear a pin drop.

I hope the dumpling and cookie shops can simply do well enough to stay in business. If it’s good for business they’ll stay open after 6. If not, not. They’re on razor’s edge, and we want to make more demands ? Come on. And if you want the businesses on the street to do better, 6pm close times for the complex are good for the business on the street.

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notanangel_25 t1_j549bn0 wrote

I mean I remember walking through the walkway during the summer and some guy had his horse cock out and was going to town, at least he had the courtesy to tuck it when he noticed me.

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Echos_myron123 OP t1_j55bibb wrote

You can't blame the guy for wanting to show off his horse sized cock.

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Juicey_J_Hammerman t1_j57l48s wrote

I don’t disagree with any of the general sentiments here, but I’ll throw in my 2 cents based on my knowledge and experience:

  • Firstly, one of the biggest cited points of the renovation was to be more accessible and plugged into the street grid, so in an absolute sense of the word, Gateway is inherently less fortress-like then it was previously. Yes the additional guard presence isn’t welcoming or ideal- but that’s also not exactly unusual practice right now in a lot of commercial property management circles (speaking as someone who previously worked in onsite property management in Midtown Manhattan throughout all of 2020).

  • Not that we should automatically give them the benefit of the doubt either, but to play devils advocate (pun intended) for a second: i think it’s also worth keeping in mind that that most of the restaurant spaces aren’t finished or open yet (as of right now it’s just a Jersey Mikes, A Dunkin, a Grab-N-Go cafe type place, soon to be joined by Chip City), and the gym and a couple other spaces haven’t been leased yet, and many offices are still WFH/hybrid and may not be seeing their pre-Covid occupancy levels yet. Given all that: it’s possible that management may be hesitant to commit resources keep it open later with fewer people coming through, and fewer things open, so the reduced hours could well be a temporary measure until more retail tenants open up or a way to gauge foot traffic/demand in the area before doing a full rollout.

  • Sometimes things also just get miscommunicated or fall through the cracks too. I’ll give an example here:

Last week they announced its opening midweek, but when I went into Newark and got off the train on Friday they still had “tenant only” signs up on the Newark Penn side Skybridge entrance and guards were still checking badges. The guards were still under the understanding that the area was closed off to the public since the restaurants weren’t open yet - even after I showed them the Instagram post. (FWIW guards didn’t stop me when I entered the “Jewel Box” entrance across the street from the main Newark Penn street-level entrance)….So I followed up with the Junction’s Instagram account that day and asked them to clarify why guards were still checking badges.

They did reply that they had since removed the signs and badge checks later on - I didn’t see a notification of that reply at the time so I DM’ed them a photo of a “tenants only” sign I took on Friday - they confirmed that they ran my original comments up to management back on Friday and had even followed up with the guards that morning to confirm it was open (Happy to report that the signs and badge checks were gone when I came in earlier this morning- just a couple security guards standing off to the side).

My point with that above anecdote is that sometimes Hanlon’s Razor is true: don’t always attribute to malice or conspiracy when stupidity/incompetence/negligence can also explain it.

That, and also by offering measured yet actionable and constructive feedback, pointing things out to the right people’s attention, and voting with your feet/wallet as well as your voice, sometimes things can changed quicker than you might expect.

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NewNewark t1_j5h3pp8 wrote

> (Happy to report that the signs and badge checks were gone when I came in earlier this morning- just a couple security guards standing off to the side).

The Mulberry side is still closed.

>That, and also by offering measured yet actionable and constructive feedback, pointing things out to the right people’s attention, and voting with your feet/wallet as well as your voice, sometimes things can changed quicker than you might expect.

They deleted multiple comments people left on Instagram without responding.

Including...

>They confirmed in an Instagram comment reply it would open for up to 2 hours after events finished on game dates.

That entire thread was deleted.

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Juicey_J_Hammerman t1_j5hmnga wrote

I’m just speaking from my experience. Mulberry street side is open. The revolving doors still have caution tape up, but the side doors are still accessible

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NewNewark t1_j5hunub wrote

Late last week, the one door had the tenants only sign and a guard posted.

If it was open, like you said, why would it have caution tapes, signs, and a guard?

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Juicey_J_Hammerman t1_j5i2e4r wrote

I went through it on both sides in the morning and evening without issue back on Friday as did a few others. The signs on the door were for saying that entrance was card entry only after a certain time. Not sure about the caution tape though.

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NewNewark t1_j5kpywo wrote

Tried it this morning on the way to train. Center door still blocked off, side door open with two guards posted. They didnt say anything, but it also felt like I wasnt welcome.

On the penn side, two guards posted at podium, also zero indication it is public. No way someone who hasnt been following this thread or instagram would know they can enter.

Also noticed that three of the shops had the construction door open and there was zero progress inside. No way Farinella, Willys and the other one I forget are opening before July. Thats disappointing

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Juicey_J_Hammerman t1_j5kuj63 wrote

I know the caution tape is still put up on Mulberry side and the desk was still up as well from the Newark Penn side.

Not sure what to tell you as far as not feeling welcome, but if the guards aren’t stopping anyone on either side and the explicit “tenant only” signs are taken down, then it one could also consider it open again - or at least not blocked off

Not gonna get into semantics as far as interpretations of it being inviting or welcoming - I’m just sharing what I know from my prior experience in commercial property management and what happened when I brought it up with Onyx’s social media team. Idk what to tell you beyond that.

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NewNewark t1_j5kz1cf wrote

Im grateful for your comments here, just noting that the current setup means zero walk-up traffic from folks who dont work in there. It doesnt look open. I appreciated avoiding the rain though.

Which reminds me, from my walk today (9am), I would guess there was about 40% as many people in the corridor vs pre-pandemic. A little better than what I expected actually. I saw 3 people in the Dunkin, pre-covid there were 6-12 waiting usually (and there were 2 open)

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Juicey_J_Hammerman t1_j5l2o2r wrote

I get where you’re coming from. I’m not thrilled about it overall either, but what can you do sometimes.

That’s better than what I expected too. Think it will improve as more restaurants open up and more Seton Hall/Devils games go on over time.

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Jstarks4444 t1_j584j4d wrote

Something doesn't add up with either side of this argument that I'm hearing. The developers spent hundreds of millions of dollars to acquire & renovate this complex. Surely they are looking for a return on their investment? One would think they anticipated a change in culture either currently underway or on the horizon.

It's widely accepted that the old Gateway was set up to barricade commuters and avoided integrating with the city of Newark. If the current owners wished to preserve the status quo, why change anything at all and why put more money into it?

Best I can guess is that either the owners have made a dire miscalculation, or they are in some type of wait-and-see mode and are planning a slow transition into a more inclusive culture.

After all we have heard quite a bit of this "Newark Work/Live/Play" mantra from politicians/developers recently. Sounds like a 24/7 city should have the doors to Gateway open 24/7.

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Flamadin t1_j5ib8vr wrote

I currently work in an attached building and get lunch at Jersey Mike's often.

I think it is a good idea to keep the homeless out of there, but I would hope and believe that they will allow customers in from the street. I mean we don't want it to turn into another Pennsylvania Station atmosphere in the G.C.

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Echos_myron123 OP t1_j5k7blq wrote

If the Gateway Center is open to the public, it would be discrimination to bar the homeless from entering. You think that's a good idea?

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Flamadin t1_j5kdogl wrote

Can't have the homeless in there or the whole project fails. It may well be discrimination, but is that illegal on private property?

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Marv95 t1_j5hx7u8 wrote

When you have events like this occurring across Broad Street during games at the Rock(and frequently occurring for DECADES), can you really blame the Gateway for being the way that it is, catering to affluent out-of-towners? Can you really blame folks like u/OpportunityPlayful70 for saying Downtown is a joke? It's a Black version of present-day San Francisco. Until the city takes a no-broken windows approach, until they give the middle finger to the locals who hold the city(and downtown) back, expect more of the same.

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Echos_myron123 OP t1_j5k7kz6 wrote

Good to see the most reactionary poster in Newark back on the subreddit!

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