New Jersey Future hosted its 23rd annual Smart Growth Awards on Oct. 9 at the South Orange Performing Arts Center, honoring seven projects and one individual for advancing sustainable planning and redevelopment across the state.
The 2025 honorees included Clinton Lofts, Cooper River Water Trail, Hoboken Connect, Nelson Glass House, Oliver Station, Stonehill at West Orange and The Forum at Madison. The Leadership Award went to Adenah Bayoh, founder of Adenah Bayoh & Companies, for her contributions to community-focused development.
The event opened with remarks from Gualberto Medina, executive vice president at CBRE and chair of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, and Peter Kasabach, executive director of New Jersey Future. Presenters Alle Ries, senior vice president of the Community Reinvestment Group at M&T Bank and a 2025 Smart Growth Awards jury member, and Valerie Merritt, communications and press manager at New Jersey Future, led the awards portion of the evening. John Harmon, founder, president and CEO of the African American Chamber of Commerce, presented the Leadership Award to Bayoh.
Kasabach said, “The Smart Growth Awards are an opportunity to showcase the best projects and plans around New Jersey on elevating what smart growth is, which means rebuilding our communities while keeping our open spaces open.”
“The main reason that we do this event is because we want to establish models and smart growth that people can emulate,” he continued. “So not only are these great projects, not only are these teams great, but they should be models for how other developers, other municipalities can do this kind of high-end, really replicable projects in New Jersey.”
Kasabach added that earning a nomination is no small feat. “It’s very hard to do redevelopment in New Jersey,” he said. “It takes an extra level of work because you’re working within existing communities. It also requires having a really good team that thinks about all the different elements of community building and project building.”
Bayoh reflected on her recognition, saying, “For me, the journey has been extremely difficult. But nevertheless, I have persevered. Not because of my own strength, but because of my community, because of my family, because of all of the professionals that believed in me and the work that I do is the reason I get to stand here and accept this amazing award.”
Nominations for the 2026 Smart Growth Awards are now open.
