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Phil Murphy talks infrastructure, NJ Transit at 2026 budget address
Gov. Phil Murphy discusses infrastructure and plans for NJ Transit at his 2026 New Jersey Budget Address.
An iconic building in downtown Newark could become a new police headquarters.
A Ridgefield Park property has increased in price by tens of millions.
These are two recent developments in real estate deals involving NJ Transit that would help the agency expand its police and bus operations, respectively.
But the two matters are tied up in court as price tags get worked out amid eminent domain proceedings.
The additions of these properties would add to the dozens NJ Transit has in its portfolio.
The agency is also in the process of shedding some land, including a controversial deal to move out of its headquarters from a building NJ Transit owned into an expensive leasing arrangement across the street. The old headquarters building is expected to be disposed of. Gov. Phil Murphy also signed a bill into law last year that gave the state Economic Development Authority $65 million to purchase underused property from NJ Transit and share some of the proceeds with the transit agency.
Here are more details on the properties at stake, the players involved and the history of each site.
NJ Transit police headquarters planned in Newark
NJ Transit’s board of directors approved the agency to acquire the building at 2-14 Ferry St. and 372-374 Market St. in Newark at its monthly board meeting in April.
This is the site of the historic Ironbound Trust Co. bank building, which dates back to 1910. The 15,000-square-foot building, which is owned by Paramount Assets and is also known as Ironbound Station Plaza, is next to Newark Penn Station. Until recently, it housed a 7-Eleven and a Blink Fitness center.
NJ Transit offered Paramount Assets $6.6 million for the property, court documents show.
Paramount Assets’ investment and reuse of the building was applauded by Newark Mayor Ras Baraka in 2018.
“We are creating a residential, retail and commercial hub that takes advantage of the connection of Penn Station to the entire region while helping to create a walkable downtown,” Baraka said at the time. “The creative reuse of a former bank building for a sports club and retail exemplifies our strategy of preserving Newark’s historic structures and repurposing them to meet today’s needs.”
The reason for moving the police headquarters is because NJ Transit is undertaking a $190 million renovation of Newark Penn Station to preserve its historic value and expand the facility.
“The chief [of the NJ Transit Police Department] and the staff currently occupy 6,000 square feet in” Newark Penn, Kolluri said. “We need them out of it so we can use it for a larger concourse.”
There are 85 sworn officers, fare enforcement officers, members of the social services outreach team and administrative employees who would need to be relocated.
“The new facility will provide the New Jersey Transit Police Department with a state-of-the-art facility that effectively and efficiently supports their mission of maintaining the safety and security of New Jersey’s public transportation network, as well as accommodating future growth within the police department,” the board item said. The agency plans to renovate the old bank building for the police department.
When asked why money was being spent on the police headquarters when other issues, like bus capacity at Newark Penn Station, are pressing problems, Kolluri said, “I think we should do all of it.”
He continued: “Right now, the money we’ve been given is for modernization of the Penn Station — that’s what the governor has given money for. If the bus folks come back with a plan for a circulation improvement, that will be fitted in there as well.”
NJ Transit and Paramount Assets have not agreed on a purchase price yet.
A representative from Paramount Assets declined to comment.
From Skymark to bus depot in Ridgefield Park
NJ Transit and a Ridgefield Park property owner are each appealing a decision by a judge that the value of two properties in the village $55,488,000 — with NJ Transit saying they’re worth less and the property owner saying they’re worth more.
Either way, it seems NJ Transit could end up paying tens of millions of dollars more than its original offer of $9.6 million for those 17.87 acres.
The controversy over this property and another 36 acres nearby dates back to at least 2019 and has to do with NJ Transit’s plans to build a $536 million bus garage, known as the Northern Bus Garage.
The agency examined more than 40 properties before deciding the Ridgefield Park location was the best place to site the new depot, given its proximity to Route 46 and Interstate 95.
The depot originally had two main purposes.
One was to help the agency expand its bus fleet and relieve the other North Jersey garages that are 28% over capacity. The other was to help the agency expand its electric bus fleet and meet a state mandate of purchasing 100% zero-emission buses by 2035, though meeting that commitment has proved challenging as the Trump administration has frozen federal grants for those investments.
But the agency has been in separate court proceedings with the village of Ridgefield Park and TP Access, LLC, the owner of the 17 acres.
Ridgefield Park has long envisioned this property as a $1 billion residential and town center development, known as Skymark, but it failed to come to fruition after one of the property owners defaulted on a loan.
In 2019, NJ Transit began eminent domain proceedings to purchase more than 50 acres of the properties at the site. The bank that owned 36 acres of land sold it to NJ Transit for $44.6 million — a deal that went through in 2020 after multiple legal attempts from Ridgefield Park to stop it.
The other 17 acres has also been tied up in court.
NJ Transit first offered $9.6 million for the properties, which were zoned at the time for the Skymark redevelopment. TP Access countered that it wanted $60 million, in part because the company said it received two offers for the property in that price range if it were to be zoned for warehousing.
In 2023, Ridgefield Park rezoned those plots, including one for warehouse distribution. Once it was rezoned, NJ Transit’s appraised value increased to $37.2 million, but TP Access maintains it should receive $60 million.
In May 2025, a panel of three commissioners determined the fair market value to be $55,488,000. NJ Transit and TP Access are appealing that decision.
NJ Transit’s board of directors authorized the agency to set aside additional money for the bus garage as it goes through the eminent domain court proceedings. Asked whether the project is still advancing given the increasing costs, Kolluri said the agency is reexamining the project.
“One of the things that we’re doing is looking at our capital project pool altogether to make sure we determine whether that project is ready to go to the next step. I am in favor of moving projects that are present and there is a clear established need for,” Kolluri said at the June board meeting.
“We don’t advance projects because it happens to be on a book,” he added. “I have not made a decision one way or the other on whether that project is ready to go to the next step.”
Gannett Fleming was awarded a $1.1 million contract in May 2020 to begin designing the bus garage, which has advanced to 10% design. The firm was awarded a $12.5 million contract extension to advance the project to 30% design, which is where it has been stuck since October 2021.
“A key portion of the current work is identifying funding for future phases,” said John Chartier, an NJ Transit spokesman.
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