Jay Weinstein can’t put his finger on one thing.
“It’s not one element, there are a number of elements,” he said.
He just knows they add up to one thing: “Newark is hot.”
Weinstein, the head of EisnerAmper’s New Jersey office, said there’s a palpable sense of excitement whenever he comes to Newark. And, lately, that’s happening a lot more.
“There’s just a really nice buzz about it,” he said. “There are some office buildings going up, some residences going up — it’s happening.
Jay Weinstein is head of EisnerAmper’s New Jersey office.
“We see the buzz and the excitement around Newark, both with our clients and with us in terms of our interaction with the Newark community, both in legal and other professional services.”
Weinstein is among a group of top business officials who will be on a panel at the Regional Economic Outlook conference, presented by the Newark Regional Business Partnership, on Wednesday at the Robert Treat Hotel in Newark.
Weinstein will be joined by Jill Kaplan (CEO, United Airlines), Aisha Glover (CEO, Newark Community Economic Development Corp. — and, soon, the Newark Alliance), Martin Melilli (market president, TD Bank) and Dayo Adiatu (community manager, Launch Pad).
Weinstein said the panel will have plenty to talk about when it comes to the business outlook in Newark and the surrounding area.
Weinstein said EisnerAmper has seen an uptick in business activity in the area.
“We’ve seen a number of new prospects, both younger companies and established companies that are growing that maybe realize they need more of a full-service firm to handle their needs,” he said.
The growth, he said, is helping Newark make a case for being the business center of the state.
Weinstein said he’s not ready to make that designation just yet — but he said the city’s economic outlook is far rosier than when he started in his current position five years ago.
“When I came to New Jersey, I spent some time in Newark and I can’t compare it to where it is today,” he said. “It is viewed as a destination now.”
How much so?
Weinstein said he wasn’t surprised Newark made Amazon’s list of its final 20 candidates for its second headquarters. He said he’s hearing of companies looking at Newark more and more.
That doesn’t surprise him.
“When we moved into our MetroPark office five years ago, Newark wasn’t a consideration,” he said.
“Let me be clear. We love MetroPark, it’s been great for us and has given us the space and amenities we’ve needed to grow from the 325 employees we had when we started to the more than 400 we have today.
“But, if we were making that decision today, we would look at Newark. It would be a viable candidate. It wasn’t before.”
For information on tickets to the conference, click here.
