Business Ventures
In 1983, New Community initiated an ambitious small business development effort in order to create job opportunities and other economic stimulation within its target neighborhoods. It began the rehabilitation of a former Roman Catholic church built in 1882 into the Saint Joseph's office-entertainment complex. The building opened for business in ] with a fine-dining restaurant, a sandwich shop, a conference area and an exercise spa. (New Community utilized the office area for its expanding management needs). These business ventures were controlled by individual for-profit corporations controlled by a New Community subsidiary (through common boards of directors).
In 1987, NCC teamed up with the Pathmark supermarket chain to develop a $12 million, 55,000 (interior) square foot supermarket and satellite store complex having a 227 car parking lot. The new supermarket opened in 1989, located in a Newark neighborhood that saw its last supermarket close near the time of the 1967 Civic Disorders. New Community invested nearly 10 years of planning effort and legal fees in acquiring site control, and gaining zoning clearances and financing (despite a variety of objections from landowners and political interests). Using the same business model from the St. Joseph's complex, NCC set up a variety of satellite businesses adjacent to the Pathmark supermarket, including a Dunkin' Donuts franchise, a fast-food restaurant, a print shop, and a mailbox / shipping services center. The development of the Pathmark center has been cited by various academic and urban assistance groups as a textbook example of reintroducing supermarkets into inner-city areas, and the site has been visited by a variety of other community development groups from cities throughout the United States.
In contrast to a small Fashion Institute producing custom clothing and home furnishings (NCC's smallest business venture), NCC developed a $3 million, 38,000 sq ft (3,500 m2) factory facility on the site of a former Borden's milk processing plant. The "New Community Technologies" factory was dedicated to the construction of pre-fabricated housing and school building components for sale to local housing developers and school boards, and opened in 2001 (after limited production commenced in an adjacent storage facility in 1999).
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