A downtown parking lot in Haddonfield. A former industrial site in Metuchen. An underused commercial corridor in East Orange. A downtown office tower in Newark. A corporate campus in Morristown.
Five very different problems, five very different New Jersey towns — and five projects New Jersey Future is honoring this year as proof that redevelopment doesn’t have to look the same everywhere to work.
The 2026 Smart Growth Award winners will be recognized at a ceremony Oct. 7 at The Newark Museum of Art, alongside Leadership Award honoree Gil Medina, the former state Secretary of Commerce and current chair of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce.
Tickets for the event are $175 through Sept. 25, rising to $225 after that date. M&T Bank is the event’s title sponsor. (Click here for more info.)
Here’s a closer look at the five projects earning the honor this year.
The Place at Haddonfield: A municipal parking lot in the middle of one of South Jersey’s most tightly preserved historic downtowns doesn’t sound like an obvious candidate for affordable housing. But that’s exactly what New Jersey Future is honoring here — a 100% affordable development built to fit into Haddonfield’s historic character rather than fight it, adding “missing middle” housing to a downtown that hasn’t had much of it.
The Kempson (Metuchen): Turning a former industrial site into housing means dealing with what’s in the ground before you can build anything on top of it. The Kempson’s redevelopment remediated contaminated land in Metuchen and turned it into a residential neighborhood connected to 32 acres of open space and recreation — the kind of project that expands a town’s walkability by literally cleaning up its past.
The Crossings at Brick Church Station (East Orange): An underutilized commercial corridor near a transit station is a familiar sight across North Jersey. This project turned one into a mixed-income, transit-oriented district in East Orange, adding housing along with food and healthcare access, and public space designed to reconnect neighborhoods that had been cut off from each other.
Audible’s The Pillars (Newark): Not every smart-growth project is about new construction — some are about giving an existing downtown building a reason for people to actually stop in it. Audible’s transformation of a prominent Newark building into a retail and community hub was built to support local entrepreneurs and activate the city’s Arts and Education District.
Sanofi Flagship at M Station West (Morristown): Sanofi’s move brought thousands of employees into a transit-oriented workplace in downtown Morristown — the kind of relocation that doesn’t just fill office space, but feeds foot traffic to nearby businesses and strengthens the connection between a corporate campus and the town around it.
