ON3 Expresses the Essence of Cooperative and Responsible Development

Over the past few years , Prism has worked hard with Nutley and Clifton officials to make progress returning the Roche site to its glory days.  When Roche left, thousands lost jobs, and millions of dollars of tax revenue per year for each township disappeared.  Since Prism acquired the site, we have rebranded it ON3, and have brought Ralph Lauren Corp., Hackensack-Meridian School of Medicine, Modern Meadow Co., Quest Diagnostics and more to the site.  At the same time, we are proposing to rebuild significantly less square feet than what the current  zoning allows, and to work with the townships to reshape the campus as a  "live work play" environment that everyone can enjoy..

Development is changing in America.  Home ownership is at its lowest level in decades.  Millennials and empty nesters prefer apartments to homes, and prefer to work, shop and dine near where they live, especially if it can be done on foot.  Development also happens incrementally, because it is difficult to foresee the needs of people, companies and townships down the road.  Recently, the Commissioners in Nutley have put out statements or made comments similar to below that we feel need clarification and responses.

Two-thirds of the traffic in and out of the site will flow through Nutley:

There is no way of knowing how much traffic will flow through the site until a redevelopment plan is completed and a traffic study reflecting that development is completed.  What we can say for certain however, is that when Roche was here and the campus was a closed campus, an even higher percentage of traffic was forced onto the local roads.  Prism is improving the situation through its offsite and onsite improvements  - at our cost, not the taxpayers. Further, by providing a mix of uses, the Peak Hour demand will be lower than the 9-5 traffic produced by Roche.

All of the storm water in both Clifton and Nutley flows into the brook in Nichols Park:

Nutley’s own engineer agrees that Prism has reduced flows from the Campus though increase in green areas and millions of dollars in underground improvements - at Prism's expense, not the taxpayer.  The flooding at Kingsland and Bloomfield has gone on for decades and the engineers have determined that it is not due to run off from the ON3 campus.  Nonetheless, Prism proposed a fix to the Township over 2 ½ years ago but nothing has been done.

All of the sewer water from the 116 acre site will flow through Nutley's own trunk line:

For the past 87 years, the Sewer Line from the Campus, and one from Clifton have connected to a Nutley trunk line which connects to Passaic Valley Sewer Authority.  The Campus Sewer line has a 15 million Gallon Per Day capacity and today we use less than 1 million gallons per day.  When this project is completed,  we will contribute less than 5 million gallons per day , so therefore there will be  no stress on the system.  ON3 has suggested to install new meters so that each party (ON3, Clifton, Nutley) each pay their fair share.

There is a reason that Prism has resisted a traffic study and is now dismissing the study that is underway:

Two and a half years ago ON3 asked Nutley to tell us what they would like to see built at ON3, so that we could prepare a traffic study that reflected actual uses, as opposed to one the Township has commissioned which is not based on any approved plans.  The Township declared this site an Area in Need of Redevelopment 4 years ago, and we are still waiting for Nutley to decide what types of development should occur.   Traffic studies should be done with existing conditions, and existing development applications in front of the respective Planning and Zoning Boards.

Prism has had numerous requests from residents of both townships for a hotel, an assisted living community, retail and housing for the campus workers, millennials and empty nesters.  Ralph Lauren, Quest and the other Occupants agreed to bring jobs and locate on the campus, believing strongly in the mixed-use vision for the ON3 Campus.

Many  of the issues that the leaders of Nutley are  pointing to, existed long before Prism purchased the campus.  We are working to solve the issues, increase the tax base, create jobs and keep our younger residents and empty nesters from moving out of the area.  We requested a meeting nearly three weeks ago to discuss any of the Commissioner’s concerns but  the township still has not called.  The repopulation and redevelopment of the ON3 Campus is already making a huge positive impact in the area and shop owners, restaurateurs and other businesses tell us this every day.  For everyone else, in the 3 years since Prism announced the Redevelopment in 2016, housing prices in Nutley have increased at a rate of more than double the rate during the 3 years after Roche announced it was leaving.  That’s a positive impact!  Let’s keep the momentum going.

Eugene Diaz

Principal, Prism Capital Partners,

Developers of On3