New Brunswick Awarded $5.7M to Open Art Gallery, Purchase Sculptures

The city’s plans to transform the vacant Brunswick Bank & Trust Building on George Street into a community arts gallery and performance center got a boost Monday.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA), a state agency focused on revitalizing urban areas, stimulating business development and fostering job creation across the state, awarded New Brunswick $5,732,716 through its Urban Investment Fund Grant Program.

The city will also utilize the funding for two public space initiatives. 

One initiative, called the New Brunswick Gateway Project, involved the creation of a plaza with an art installation, seating and wayfinding directly across from the New Brunswick Train Station and adjacent to the Health and Life Science Exchange (HELIX) project.

The other one, referred to as the New Brunswick Sculpture Project, will utilize the funding to purchase and install several sculptures created by Seward Johnson throughout the City Center.

The Johnson sculptures have quickly become popular temporary landmarks since they were first sprinkled around the city’s downtown area in 2022. In 2024, four sculptures loaned from the Johnson Atelier and rendered in the late artist’s trademark hyper-realistic style were placed around George Street, another was placed in front of the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center on Livingston Avenue and another near the Middlesex County Courthouse on Bayard Street.

The NJEDA’S Urban Investment Fund Grant Program was approved in March 2024 to provide grants to six eligible municipalities based on commuter-adjusted population and municipal distress for the revitalization of key commercial corridors by supporting and undertaking eligible real estate-related projects designed to address the negative economic impacts from the pandemic.

In addition to the funding award to New Brunswick, grants were awarded to Paterson ($7 million), Trenton ($7 million), Newark ($7 million) and Passaic ($5,732,716).

New Brunswick has in recent years turned its focus to revitalizing and refurbishing George Street as work continues on the nearby HELIX project and the Jack and Sheryl Morris Cancer Center.

In 2024, four conceptual plans for George Street were created by DMR Architects, which was commissioned by City Market in cooperation with City Hall.

A conceptual plan to create 18-foot sidewalks and a 24-foot spine down George Street for outdoor dining and year-round activities is one of four plans being considered by the city.

Other options include making no changes to the two-lane street and its sidewalks, widening the sidewalks and creating one lane of traffic, and widening the sidewalks and creating one lane of traffic to be used only by buses and emergency vehicles.

Story & Photo By: Chuck O'Donnell