AWARD-WINNING KOREAN RESTAURANT MÖKBAR TO OPEN FOURTH LOCATION AT ONYX EQUITIES’ THE JUNCTION AT GATEWAY
New Tenants Also include First Daycare Center in Gateway
Project All Stars, and Seton Hall University
Developer Hosting Competition for Newark-Based Restauranteur to Move into Fully Built-Out Restaurant Space
The Junction at Gateway’s culinary revolution continues with James Beard Award-winning Mökbar owner and chef Esther Choi choosing Newark for its fourth location. It will occupy 950 square feet in the Market Hall area of Gateway One.
One Step Ahead Learning & Performing Arts Center also signed a lease for 5,600 square feet of interior space and approximately 1,000 square feet of exterior space to be used for a private outdoor playground in Gateway One near the Doubletree Hotel. It will be the first daycare center in the Gateway Center providing a much-needed resource for working parents as companies ease back into in-person work schedules.
Seton Hall University—ranked among the top tier national universities by U.S. News and World Report—will be opening a student center in Gateway for its Law School and undergraduate students matriculating at its Newark campuses. The university’s decisionmakers sited the amenities package that will be available to its students and faculty as one of the top benefits of the 930 SF Junction-level space in Gateway Two.
The Newark Project All Stars, a charity that connects the city’s youth with members of its business community—including Onyx Equities—to develop business skills and make career-forming connections, will move into 450 SF for its corporate offices and meeting spaces for its members.
“I’m very excited to get back to my New Jersey roots! What better place to open Mökbar, my flagship restaurant than Newark,” said Esther Choi, Chef and Owner of Mökbar. “I’m ready to get to work and share my Korean culture and cuisine with the downtown residence and workers!!”
“Newark’s central downtown area has always had the capability to be a center of commerce. It has the infrastructure and locational attributes needed to become a world-class destination, and a neighborhood that local residents cherish and identify with. It just needed for us to turn Gateway inside-out,” said Jonathan Schultz, Co-Founder and Managing Principal for Onyx Equities. “Our plans to turn the concourse level from a convenient commuter pass-through into a world-class destination is coming to fruition. It’s very exciting to sign tenants in The Junction who share our vision and belief in Newark.”
“Just as we’ve brought diverse food options from the other side of the Hudson River to the Gateway Center, it’s important for us to share Newark’s local flavor and culinary talent with central downtown commuters, residents and visitors,” said Matthew Flath, Vice President of Asset Management for Onyx Equities of its competition for one Newark-based restauranteur to win the right to operate a fully built-out restaurant space at no upfront cost.
Mökbar and the competition winner will add their unique flavor to The Junction along with Serafina, Brooklyn Dumpling Shop, Fresh & Co, Greek from Greece Bakery & Café, Farinella, 375˚ Chicken & Fries, Chip City Cookies and The Brookdale.
Interested parties can download the competition guidelines and entry form here.
The 2.3 million SF, four-building Gateway Center complex draws over 75,000 weekly visitors from the New York Metro area through its skybridges to Newark Penn Station, One Riverfront Center, and Panasonic’s Corporate Headquarters. Its second-floor interconnected concourses, now known as The Junction, is near the completion of a multimillion-dollar renovation to attract retail, fitness, entertainment and dining opportunities as well as improve the pedestrian and tenant experience within the complex. Onyx’s investment in Newark also includes opening the Gateway Center’s ground floor via a new pedestrian grand entrance and street-facing retail for the first time in the building’s 50+-year history.
For more information about Gateway Center visit www.gatewaynj.com. The retail leasing agents for The Junction at Gateway Center are Jason Pierson and Ryan Starkman of Pierson Commercial Real Estate. The office leasing agents for Gateway Center are Tim Greiner and Blake Goodman of JLL.
For renderings of The Junction at Gateway click here.
About Onyx Equities:
Headquartered in Woodbridge, New Jersey, Onyx Equities, LLC is a leading, full-service real estate firm specializing in investment, asset repositioning and ground-up development. Since its founding in 2004, Onyx has acquired more than $2.3B worth of real estate assets throughout New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. Onyx has executed over $250M in capital improvement projects under its signature repositioning program. Driving Onyx’s success is its loyalty to core geographic markets, a seasoned team of expertise in all facets of real estate, its adaptability to market conditions and the experience gained from managing over 65 MSF since inception. Throughout its portfolio, Onyx takes aim at increasing operational efficiency, tenant satisfaction and long-term value. For more information, contact the firm at (732) 362-8800, or visit www.onyxequities.com.
