A 42-story, mixed-use building that will include 37 floors of residential featuring approximately 220 units of housing will be part of the HELIX project in New Brunswick, master developer Chris Paladino said.
The building will be the tallest in Middlesex County.
Paladino, the president of New Brunswick Development Corp., said the mixed-use tower will help anchor the four-acre site known formally as the New Jersey Health + Life Science Exchange.
The inclusion of residential will help make HELIX, the nearly $1 billion, three-tower project that will be a center for translational life science research and more, more of a live-work-play destination, he said.
HELIX will consist of three towers:
- H1: Which primarily will house the translational research space, the medical school and the New Jersey Innovation Hub;
- H2: Which is seeking large corporate life science and technology company tenants;
- H3: Which will have traditional office space for smaller service providers on the bottom floors, topped by residential.
Paladino said the outdoor space that surrounds the three buildings — and the amenities in them — are huge value-adds to the complex.
“On the ground floor of H1, we will have a food hall, an assembly space where we could do events, a makerspace and an upscale restaurant,” he said.
“And then, there’s going to be a great public space that connects all of these buildings on the four acres.”
Paladino said work is progressing nicely on HELIX.
Excavation work on H1 is expected to start this spring, with an opening set for 2025. Towers H2 and H3 will follow shortly thereafter, with possible 2026 target dates for opening.
Last week, Devco released a television ad for HELIX, which ran on the Big Ten Network — and is expected to get additional cable TV coverage.
