A stretch of industrial land along the Passaic River in Newark's Central Ward is about to become a truck and container staging ground, after the city's planning board signed off on a project totaling 401 tractor-trailer, truck, and container storage spaces. The unanimous vote covers a partial redevelopment of the 51-acre site at 151-155 and 27-117 Raymond Boulevard, tucked between the Passaic River, the Pulaski Skyway, and the New Jersey Turnpike.
The Newark Central Planning Board approved the site plan on August 31, according to TAPinto Newark, which put the full build-out at 401 total parking and storage spaces across the property. That figure goes beyond the 360-space truck and tractor-trailer lot detailed by Jersey Digs, whose reporting on the developer's plans forms much of the record here: 151 Raymond Blvd LLC intends to redevelop 29.34 acres of the parcel with a lot for up to 360 trucks and tractor-trailers, 16 employee parking spaces, and 44 spaces wired for electric vehicles.
Container Yards, Access Roads and a Gravel-to-Pavement Upgrade
Beyond the truck lot itself, the plans call for two container storage areas totaling 24 spaces that together can hold up to 96 individual shipping containers, since the containers can be stacked as high as four units. The eastern paved parking area fronts the Passaic River, while the other paved parking area is in the northern portion of the site. The developer will build an access road linking the eastern portion of the site to Raymond Boulevard, according to the same Jersey Digs account. Three unpaved parking areas round out the layout.
A gravel road along the western edge of the lot will be paved and widened to 35 feet, connecting the paved lot and container storage areas to the site's main entrance. A second access road will link the northern parking and container areas to the main paved parking area, and a third will run from Raymond Boulevard directly, per the report. Two vacant buildings along the property's northern edge are also part of the redevelopment footprint, while the operational PSEG generating station and other existing infrastructure will remain on-site, illustrating how heavy utility operations and the new logistics use are expected to coexist, as TAPinto Newark's reporting on the site notes.
A Riverfront Walkway
The project also includes a pedestrian walkway along the southern edge of the site, running from the Raymond Boulevard access road to a seating area by the river, according to Jersey Digs. That feature lines up with requirements under Newark's Municipal Public Access Plan and Riverfront Redevelopment Plan, which call for waterfront developments along the Passaic to integrate public access, according to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
The redevelopment required three variances tied to screening material and lighting, plus two design waivers covering parking shade coverage and the parking lot's vegetative buffer, per the Jersey Digs account. No tenant has been selected for the parking lot yet.
Why Newark Keeps Saying Yes to Truck Lots
This isn't the first time Newark's planning board has waved through a project like this. Back in April 2023, the board approved another vehicle-parking facility nearby on Raymond Boulevard, a move that, according to Jersey Digs, has helped establish an emerging logistics staging hub near the Pulaski Skyway as the East and Central wards convert more industrial land to commercial vehicle uses. The board also approved a separate industrial warehouse project in February 2024 featuring 24,000 square feet of space with loading bays and solar panels.
The bigger picture helps explain the pattern. The North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority reports that New Jersey's truck parking shortfall, currently around 272 spaces statewide, is projected to surge to 1,861 spaces by 2050, with demand concentrated along the Turnpike and Interstate 78, according to the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority. At the same time, industrial real estate inventory across northern and central New Jersey grew from 833 million square feet in 2019 to nearly 875 million square feet by 2024. That growth has pushed developers to pivot from speculative warehouse construction toward truck parking and container staging instead.
EV Charging Spaces Tap Into a Bigger Federal Push
The 44 EV-ready spaces planned for the site connect to a much larger regional effort. In October 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded a $250 million Climate Pollution Reduction Grant to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection-led Clean Corridor Coalition to build heavy-duty electric truck charging infrastructure along the Interstate 95 freight corridor, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The multistate coalition plans 24 heavy-duty freight charging hubs across four states, including nine in New Jersey.
New Jersey's Advanced Clean Trucks rule requires vehicle manufacturers to sell a rising share of zero-emission trucks through 2035. Whether the Raymond Boulevard developer will pursue Clean Corridor Coalition funding to install active fast-chargers at the 44 EV-ready spaces remains an open question.
