NEWARK — Newark's Field of Dreams has been sold.
The former home of the Newark Bears minor league baseball team — left to languish along Broad Street since the hard-luck franchise folded in 2013 — has been sold to a New York-based developer for $23.5 million.
The site at the corner of Broad Street and Orange Street has been sold to the Lotus Equity Group, city officials confirmed this week. Lotus plans to demolish Riverfront Stadium and build a mixed-use, high-rise tower in its place.
"This property is so significant," said Baye Adofo-Wilson, the city's Deputy Mayor for Economic and Housing Development. The stadium "was part of a previous attempt to revitalize the downtown...It didn't work out. We had to come up with a new idea."
Once hailed as a beacon for a new era of development and prosperity in Newark, the return of minor league baseball to the state's largest city proved to be a misstep almost immediately.
The Newark Bears, started by city native and former Yankees catcher Rick Cerone in 1998, continued a legacy of minor league teams in the Brick City.
Though the stadium opened to much fanfare in 1999, and the team attracted former major league stars like Rickey Henderson and Jose Canseco, the Bears failed to capture the hearts of area fans, and the team soon had nearly as many unpaid bills as nightly attendees. A group of developers rescued the franchise from bankruptcy in 2008, but it folded for good five years later. The 6,014-seat venue has hosted only college and local games in the years since.
The franchise-less stadium has continued to cost Newark and Essex County taxpayers a combined $2 million in annual debt payments.
Wilson said the new high-rise will include both residential units and commercial spaces. Though plans have yet to be finalized, that could include a hotel, he said.
Both the city and Lotus hope to market the apartments as both eco-friendly and part of a thriving transit-oriented district, in hopes of attracting millennials and other young professionals to Newark. The current stadium is just a short walk from the city's light rail and NJ Transit's Broad Street station.
"We have the ability to create a vibrant, multifaceted downtown destination for residents and visitors," said Ben Korman, founder of Lotus Equity Group.
"As longtime investors in Newark, we understand this is a unique opportunity to harness the city's incredible energy to build an enduring economic driver for generations to come."
The precise number of units proposed for the tower is unclear, but officials said it could be between 1,000 and 1,500. Some of the units, though it is unclear how many, will likely be designated as affordable housing.
While Wilson said Lotus will probably seek a tax abatement for the project, the details of what it will look like have not yet been ironed out. But, the tax break would be contingent upon the company hiring Newark residents during construction, and hotel staffing, he said.
"We require that you hire Newark residents," Wilson said. "If you do that, we can grant an abatement."
The stadium's sale appears to dash any hopes that the site might one day be home to a casino, should North Jersey officials prove successful in convincing both legislators and voters to allow gambling outside Atlantic City. But, city officials said the sale does not mean that the possibility of a casino somewhere else in Newark is off the table.
"There are several locations that folks are interested in," Mayor Ras Baraka said Friday, noting that the development he supports includes not only a casino, but an entertainment complex and hotel.
"We never decided that we would stop development (while we wait to find out about) the casino...We have to move forward either way," he said.
Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo, a key supporter of the casino effort, said he was "very excited" about the high-rise. The stadium was owned by both the city and the county, and managed by the Essex County Improvement Authority, officials said.
"This dynamic project will contribute immensely to the economic revitalization of Essex County and Newark," DiVincenzo said.
"The economic stimulation and the financial debt that will be removed from the budgets of Essex and Newark are substantial advantages that make this project worthwhile and beneficial for the residents of Essex."
While grand plans for the property have fallen flat before, Baraka said he was confident the new development would play a critical role in revitalizing Newark's long-foundering downtown.
"This will spark more development in and around that area," he said. "We are excited."
Dan Ivers may be reached at divers@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DanIversNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.