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Opportunity snapshot · Restaurant

224 Market Street

Newark, NJ 07102 · Market & Lafayette Streets

RestaurantRetailArena DistrictLiquor License AvailableHigh Foot TrafficDowntown Newark
91out of 100

Opportunity score

High reuse potential

Request feasibility review

Available Space

+/- 8,000 SF

Property Type

Retail / Restaurant

Condition

Former full-service restaurant

Location

Market & Lafayette Streets

Reuse scenarios

Sports lounge / front storefront
Scenario ARecommended direction

Sports Bar + Event Lounge

  • Sports viewing + premium bar
  • Restaurant kitchen + event service
  • Private watch-party areas
  • Approximately 8,000 SF reuse study

Preliminary economics

Initial investment
~$1.10M
10-year operating value (PV)
~$2.43M
Potential value surplus
~+$1.33M
Value-surplus ROI
121.0%
Food hall / front storefront
Scenario B

Food Hall

  • Multiple vendor kitchens
  • Shared seating + circulation
  • Operator bar / shared facilities
  • Approximately 8,000 SF reuse study

Preliminary economics

Initial investment
~$2.20M
10-year operating value (PV)
~$3.06M
Potential value surplus
+$857,422
Value-surplus ROI
39.0%
Play lounge / front storefront
Scenario C

Arena Play Lounge

  • Social gaming + lounge zones
  • Food + beverage service
  • Group events + flexible seating
  • Approximately 8,000 SF reuse study

Preliminary economics

Initial investment
~$1.41M
10-year operating value (PV)
~$2.29M
Potential value surplus
+$877,353
Value-surplus ROI
62.2%

Recommended direction for further review, not an approval or investment recommendation.

Existing condition

Existing Property Photos

1 of 6

Existing property + context

Former full-service restaurant opportunity beside Prudential Center with liquor license available, existing restaurant infrastructure, and strong arena district demand.

Available Space
+/- 8,000 SF
Property Type
Retail / Restaurant
Condition
Former full-service restaurant
Location
Market & Lafayette Streets
Transit Score
Excellent
Event Traffic
200+ events/year
Visitors
2M+ annually
Daytime Workforce
200,000+

Zoning + use potential

Zoning district
District confirmation
Existing use
Full-service restaurant
Potential uses
Dining, food hall, social entertainment

Risks & constraints

Lease + landlord approvals

Confirm permitted use, lease length, rent, allowances and landlord work.

Liquor license

Confirm availability, transfer, pricing and all approvals; no license cost is established.

Building systems

Survey kitchen, MEP, exhaust, grease, fire protection and structural condition.

Code + accessibility

Confirm occupancy, egress, accessibility and change-of-use requirements.

Event demand + seasonality

Validate conversion of arena traffic into achievable sales and weekday demand.

Operator + delivery

Confirm operator capacity, vendor commitments, capital and contractor pricing.

Existing building + reuse strategy

  • Reuse viable restaurant infrastructure
  • Separate customer and service circulation
  • Activate the corner storefront
  • Plan kitchen, exhaust and grease capacity
  • Resolve accessibility and safe egress
  • Balance event and weekday trading

Preliminary operating feasibility

Sports Bar + Event Lounge / leasehold operating test; rent and term unconfirmed.

Initial investment
~$1.10M
Stabilized annual revenue
~$4.20M
Stabilized operating cash
$499,000
10-year operating value (PV)
~$2.43M
Potential value surplus
~+$1.33M
Value-surplus ROI
121.0%
Project IRR (annual)
32.3%
Payback from first investment
4.0 years
Cost breakdown
~$1.10M
  • Lease / setup6.8%
  • Renovation + TI29.1%
  • Kitchen + FF&E31.9%
  • Soft costs7.3%
  • Contingency9.2%
  • Opening + carry15.7%
Operating value less investment
  1. Operating PV~$2.43M
  2. Lease / setup$75,000
  3. Renovation + TI$320,000
  4. Kitchen + FF&E$350,000
  5. Soft costs$80,400
  6. Contingency$100,500
  7. Opening + carry$172,295
  8. Surplus~$1.33M
Operating value vs investment

Initial investment~$1.10M

10-year operating value (PV)~$2.43M

Market + location context

  • One block from Prudential Center
  • 200+ events annually / broker-reported
  • 2M+ annual arena visitors / broker-reported
  • NJ Transit, PATH and Amtrak
  • Downtown workforce and university population

Arena visitation and downtown activity indicate possible demand, not guaranteed sales. Validate the operator, trading capacity, event calendar, competition and weekday business.

Feasibility & due diligence roadmap

  1. 01Confirm lease and license terms
  2. 02Survey existing building systems
  3. 03Confirm use, occupancy and accessibility
  4. 04Test concept layout and capacity
  5. 05Validate operator sales and costs
  6. 06Obtain contractor pricing
  7. 07Review operating cash flows
  8. 08Coordinate design and approvals
Request feasibility review

Next steps

  1. 1Confirm lease and license terms
  2. 2Select an operator-led concept
  3. 3Inspect systems and code requirements
  4. 4Validate scope, sales and funding
  5. 5Request professional feasibility review

Interested in this property?

Contact the listing team

Ryan Starkman

Pierson Commercial Real Estate

732-724-4501ryan@piersonre.com

Contact broker for current rent, availability, liquor license and leasing terms.

Explore adaptive-reuse feasibility

Review concept fit, building systems, code, landlord requirements, operator economics and the next design steps.

Request architect review
Sources, assumptions & important information

OpLot provides preliminary opportunity analysis for early-stage exploration. Property, zoning, development, market and financial information should be independently verified before making investment or development decisions.

Unless otherwise identified, analysis graphics, development diagrams, massing studies and development illustrations presented within OpLot property analyses are created by OpLot using publicly available information, supplied information and preliminary site analysis.

Public information used

Pierson Commercial Real Estate flyer / supplied property materials

Planning and market assumptions

Uses explore the existing restaurant footprint. Lease, license, trading capacity and building systems inform the next-stage review. The opportunity score represents development potential, not an investment return.

Graphics are OpLot studies; existing property photos and listing information retain their original provenance.

Financial assumptions and calculation method
  • Leasehold operating model, not a valuation of owned real estate. An 8,000 SF area, ten-year operating horizon, $40/SF/year occupancy-rent test and $75,000 initial lease/setup allowance are hypotheses. The broker has not confirmed rent, lease term, license cost, tenant allowance or deposit. No real-estate acquisition, incentives or terminal sale value is assumed.
  • Renovation covers base-building repair; tenant improvements cover partitions and MEP distribution; kitchen and FF&E are separate equipment allowances. Soft costs are 12% and contingency 15% of these four categories. Opening costs and 5% lump-sum pre-opening carry are added once. Validate liquor-license cost and existing systems before relying on the budget.
  • User-supplied revenue tests: $4.2M sports lounge sales, $4.8M consolidated food-hall venue sales and $4.0M play lounge sales. Non-rent operating ratios are 80.5%, 79.8% and 80.125%, including food, labor, utilities, insurance, marketing, maintenance/reserves and food-hall vendor settlements where relevant. A fee-only food-hall operator must replace this consolidated model with its own receipts and expenses; gross vendor sales are not free operator income. Occupancy rent is added separately. These are not historical property results.
  • Monthly cash flows contain initial lease/setup cost, equal monthly buildout draws, and ten years of operations after opening. Twelve-month sales ramp begins near 50%; half of non-rent expenses remain fixed and rent is fully payable. Revenue, non-rent expenses and rent escalate 2% annually. No debt leverage, tax benefit or residual value is assumed.
  • Operating value is the present value of modeled operating cash flows at a 12% discount rate, not an appraisal or capitalized real-estate NOI. Value surplus = operating value minus total nominal investment. Comparison ROI = surplus / total investment. NPV separately discounts investment timing. Operating yield = stabilized annual cash after occupancy rent / total investment. Annualized project IRR comes only from the monthly cash-flow series and is omitted for non-conventional flows.
  • National Restaurant Association operating research shows narrow industry profit margins and is context, not a forecast for this site. Landlord terms, operator underwriting, trading capacity and contractor estimates must validate these inputs. Positive results are conditional on the modeled operating horizon; shorter lease terms or weaker trading may eliminate them.

Items to confirm during feasibility

  • Lease + landlord approvals
  • Liquor license
  • Building systems
  • Code + accessibility
  • Event demand + seasonality
  • Operator + delivery
Request feasibility review
224 Market Street Opportunity Snapshot | OpLot