The retail lineup at Jersey City waterfront community Newport is growing. In a May 9 press release, LeFrak, the developer behind the transformation of Newport, and the Newport Associates Development Co. announced signing eight retail leases in recent months. The new agreements total 27,000 square feet and span multiple buildings in the live-work-play neighborhood. Newport’s newest tenants: Dunhuang Food – a New York City Chinese spot that opened this spring Efi’s Gyro – a Greek eatery from Morristown that will launch next month Solaz – a new Mediterranean restaurant & bar with golf simul ..read more

Crumbl Cookies is making its Somerset County debut. Located at Chimney Rock Crossing in Bridgewater, the fast-growing cookie boutique cookie franchise is set to begin welcoming customers May 17. The chain is known for its weekly rotating menu of dessert-inspired specialty flavors of warm and chilled soft-baked cookies, such as peanut butter banana, pink velvet cake, lemon poppy seed, raspberry cheesecake and chocolate cake. Since its founding seven years ago in Utah, Crumbl has expanded to more than 1,000 bakeries across the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. Within New Jersey, the chain’s footpri ..read more

As Parsippany-based B&G Foods Inc. continues a strategic review of core business units, it may sell off some or all of its brands in the frozen and canned vegetable space. According to Chief Executive Officer and President Kenneth Keller, the company is ramping up efforts to reshape its portfolio. That includes evaluating a possible divestiture, either in a single transaction or a series of deals. In a May 8 announcement, he said, “Green Giant remains a strong brand with broad awareness and distribution, and the frozen vegetables category is on trend with health and dietary trends. Howeve ..read more

The retail lineup at Jersey City waterfront community Newport is growing. In a May 9 press release, LeFrak, the developer behind the transformation of Newport, and the New Port Associates Development Co. announced signing seven retail leases in recent months. The new agreements total 27,000 square feet and span multiple buildings in the live-work-play neighborhood. Newport’s newest tenants: Dunhuang Food – a New York City Chinese spot that opened this spring Efi’s Gyro – a Greek eatery from Morristown that will launch next month Solaz – a new Mediterranean restaurant & bar with golf simu ..read more

The Rutgers Center for Women and Work is out with a new report ahead of Mother’s Day. According to the study, New Jersey ranks near the bottom of all states on pay equity for mothers – a result of the “motherhood penalty.” The report was authored by Rutgers researchers Yana Rodgers, Becky Logue-Conroy and Debra Lancaster. “The Motherhood Penalty in New Jersey” analyzes data from the most recent five-year wave of the American Community Survey (2018-2022) to calculate the motherhood penalty in New Jersey. “Having children and raising a family already entails considerable expenditures, but women ..read more

Mars Wrigley’s Dove Chocolate is trying to make it easier for mothers to return to the workforce. As part of an effort to uplift women this Mother’s Day, the Newark-based candy brand unveiled a free artificial intelligence-powered tool. The AI helps moms translate their parenting prowess into functional job skills to showcase those capabilities to potential employers. According to Dove, the “Mom Experience Translator” allows users to input an open job description and select from a list of pre-populated skills. They can also add additional accomplishments as well as areas of expertise that the ..read more

Kushner celebrated the start to work May 9 to turn Monmouth Mall inside out, transforming it into a vibrant town center in Eatontown. Located at 180 Route 35, less than 1 mile from Exit 105 of the Garden State Parkway, shovels hit the dirt in front of the empty JCPenney at the 1.5 million-square-foot shopping mall. The more than $500 million redevelopment project is actually a return of sorts to the property’s roots. The emerging campus will include 900,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, 1,000 housing units, medical office space, a public green, a Whole Foods Markets store and mo ..read more

The Monmouth Mall opened in 1960 as a 600,000-square-foot open air center. Following a groundbreaking ceremony May 9, Kushner aims to turn the property “inside out.” The more than $500 million effort will create Monmouth Square, a proposed “town center” for Eatontown. The emerging campus will include 900,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, 1,000 housing units, medical office space, a public green, a Whole Foods Market, and more. And while many walls will come down – bye-bye, JCPenney and Lord & Taylor – not everyone is leaving the property. “This is an exciting day,” Eatontown ..read more

The highly anticipated SciTech Scity project at Liberty Science Center in Jersey City marked another major development May 9, as the New Jersey Innovation Institute (NJII) joined the Healthcare Innovation Engine as a Lead Innovation Partner. NJII, a New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) corporation and nonprofit headquartered in Newark, joins other notable partners signed onto the project touted as the “Science City of Tomorrow.” Those participants include RWJ Barnabas Health, Bristol Myers Squibb, EY, Nokia Bell Labs and Sheba Medical Center in Israel. When complete, SciTech Scity will e ..read more

At a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday, officials put golden shovels in the ground to mark the forthcoming Princeton Plasma Innovation Center (PPIC) project. The more than $100 million effort will rise at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) headquarters, located on Princeton University’s Forrestal Campus in Plainsboro. The international hub of fusion research will feature: State-of-the-art laboratories and office space to support new research in microelectronics, quantum sensors and devices, and sustainability sciences. Substantial sustainability aspects, such as full electrificati ..read more