Aspire Program 
New Jersey’s Aspire program is opening up for applications as part of the state’s $14.5 billion Economic Recovery Act. The incentive for the program was intended to attract economic development and commercial and residential real estate projects in certain regions in the Garden State. Note the map to the right.
What this program is intended to do combined with the NJ Emerge Program, is to provide tax breaks for companies that move to New Jersey or expand their existing footprint within the state. The combined two programs are capped at $1.1 billion a year.
The governor sees these incentive programs as ways to encourage development projects in what are termed overlooked communities.
The New Jersey Aspire funds are targeting mixed-use, transit-oriented, mixed-income and affordable housing projects.
Each of the projects can qualify for up to $2 million in Gap funding under the NJ Aspire Program, which can cover up to 45% of the cost for a project, or up to 60% of the cost in lower-income communities, thus truly incentivizing the development in underserved areas.
Qualifications
■ Commercial projects, in order to qualify, must be at least 100,000 square feet of commercial or residential space to qualify.
■ Residential projects need to have a minimum cost of between $5 and $17.5 million, depending upon the particular city. These specific residential projects must be setting aside at least 20% of the residential units for affordable housing in order to qualify.
A mathematical formula will be applied to determine how much greater the dollar amount of economic benefit of the project is compared to the cost of the tax break. In the case of poor cities within the Garden State, such as Atlantic City, Paterson and Trenton, developers will be able to meet a lower threshold than projects located in other regions that have stronger economic underfootings.
In addition to meeting the economic qualifications and specifications such as size, those applying must also have accompanying their application a letter of support from the local municipality top official, such as a mayor. Within that letter officials would be able to outline how the local community and residents, as well as the economy, would benefit and be a recipient of this development.
Under this program the state is setting aside $2.5 billion for transformative projects over the lifetime of the program. A transformative project needs to be at least 1,000 units for residential or 100,000 square feet for commercial space. The definition of transformative projects is not as clearly defined as developers might like. In other words, it appears that the state is looking for the developers to help them craft the benefit to the community by justifying the monies afforded through these tax breaks and monies provided.
If you have any questions about this information or title insurance, please contact Ralph Aponte: 732.914.1400.
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