The New Jersey Economic Development Authority has granted another round of tax incentives to a tech hub under construction in New Brunswick, awarding $259.4 million for a high-rise building that will include apartments and housing for medical students.
The EDA this week granted the tax credits to New Brunswick Development Corp., known as DEVCO, and Pennrose Holdings for a 42-story, 562,836-square-foot tower at 71 Paterson St. The mixed-use property, known as H-3, marks the third phase of the Health + Life Science Exchange, the HELIX, a science campus slated for downtown New Brunswick. The project's two initial stages have already been granted $380.3 million in tax credits, bringing HELIX's total now to roughly $740 million.
The HELIX project is a manifestation of New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy's economic-development push to foster and attract tech and life sciences companies to the Garden State. The overall development's tenants will include Nokia Bell Labs, the industrial research arm of Finland-based Nokia; Rutgers University; Robert Wood Johnson Medical School; Hackensack Meridian Health; and RWJ Barnabas Health.
The majority, or 53% of H-3, is a residential component, The Residences @ HELIX, that includes 265 apartment units totaling 298,390 square feet. There is also 264,446 square feet of commercial office and specialized laboratory space that will be leased by Middlesex County and Rutgers University, and housing for Rutgers School of Medicine students, according to the EDA.
The projected cost for H-3 is $485.1 million, according to the EDA.
The HELIX's first phase, H-1, is a 573,400-square-foot translational research facility that includes Rutgers Medical School and the New Jersey Innovation Hub. In 2023, DEVCO was awarded $271 million in tax credits for that part of the HELIX project.
SJP Properties is building the second phase, H-2, and has been awarded $103.9 million in tax incentives to develop the nearly 370,000-square-foot property that will house Nokia.