Flow of Applicants for NJs Revamped Incentive Programs

“A $29 million project to convert a pair of old Paterson textile factories into 99 residential units and retail space.

The creation of a new software company headquarters in Neptune, bringing 35 new jobs to a low-income area and stopping the loss of 74 jobs to another state.

The shift of 250 manufacturing jobs from a Long Island bakery to a new, $17 million plant in New Brunswick.

They are three of the projects set to go ahead with tax breaks worth millions of dollars that New Jersey business leaders say may never have come to fruition without a revamp of the main state programs that provide incentives designed to spark development and create jobs.

Six months after Governor Christie signed the sweeping overhaul into law, some of the changes are clearly working as intended. The 24 grants awarded suggest a proportionally greater number of projects are seeking state help to invest in New Jersey. In addition, more grants are going to smaller companies, and urban projects outside of Newark and Jersey City, cities that received a big chunk of the money awarded in the past, are more prevalent.

Ted Zangari, a Newark lawyer who helped redesign the program and helps companies relocate and build facilities, said that although it is early, ‘the program seems to be working better than expected.’

‘I think the law already, in the first several months, is proving that it has the potential in virtually every economic development opportunity to make the difference in a financial cost disadvantage between us and another equally competitive state,’ he said.

The revamp enabled companies making smaller investments to get grants, a contrast to the past when the state’s most generous program required a minimum investment of $50 million and another required $20 million.”