Mira Prinz-Arey has a theory about Target.
The retail giant’s third Jersey City location is just one part of the story, she said. What Target’s willingness to invest says to small businesses is the bigger angle.
“If large businesses are planning to invest — that tells me that small mom-and-pops are still going to be able to succeed,” she said. “If Target’s willing to come in, that shows that the opportunity is there.”
Prinz-Arey, who has served as executive director of the Jersey City Economic Development Corporation since April 2025, made the case last Thursday before a gathering of commercial real estate developers and investors at the Jersey City Summit for Real Estate, Economic Development & Innovation.
It was the same forum where Mayor James Solomon would lay out his vision for inclusive growth later in the day.
Target as an anchor brings feet to the street, Prinz-Arey said. The feet support the businesses around it — the grocer, the salon, the UPS store, the constellation of shops that make a neighborhood work.
That’s the logic she is operating from in her role at the JCEDC, the city agency responsible for driving economic development across Jersey City’s diverse neighborhoods.
It’s a job that requires thinking big and small at the same time.
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Prinz-Arey came to the JCEDC after eight years on the Jersey City Council, which gave her a street-level view of what economic development looks like — and doesn’t look like — across the city’s neighborhoods. Her priorities reflect that experience.
At the summit, she was direct about where the JCEDC’s focus lies. Economic development is about more than new buildings and population growth, she said.
“It’s about creating opportunities for the people,” she said. “Ensuring that residents have access to quality jobs, workforce training, affordable housing, vibrant neighborhoods and pathways to upward mobility.”
The JCEDC’s lease grant program is one of the most tangible expressions of that philosophy. Phase one supported 18 local small businesses. Phase two will support up to 55, with grants of up to $50,000 each — all funded through the city’s urban enterprise zone designation.
“This is the story behind the five minutes at the podium,” Prinz-Arey told BINJE.
Settling into a new role means navigating a new administration.
Prinz-Arey is measured about what the transition from Steve Fulop to James Solomon means for her work — careful not to compare, but clear-eyed about the opportunity.
“Anytime there’s a new administration, there’s always a new space for new opportunities,” she said. “The opportunity is that we have an administration that is very supportive of small businesses. How can we get together and maximize all of our resources — not only at the city level, but looking to our partners at the county, at the state and at the federal government.”
Solomon, she noted, spent eight years on the council before becoming mayor. He knows the city’s neighborhoods. That counts for something.
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Beyond the lease grant program, Prinz-Arey said the JCEDC is partnering with the city on its youth jobs program and has commissioned a new skills-in-the-workplace study to better understand what workforce development looks like in the 21st century.
The goal, Prinz-Arey said, is straightforward even when the work is not.
“Economic development succeeds when prosperity is shared,” she said. “When a young entrepreneur can start a business, when a family can find affordable housing, when a student can access workforce training and when longtime residents can see tangible improvements in their quality of life.”
Jersey City, she said, has the assets, the talent and the vision. The JCEDC’s job is to make sure the growth reaches everyone.
“The best chapters are yet to come,” she said.
