New Jersey Realtors are making an important statement with the opening of their new headquarters in Trenton.
You hear it endlessly when you're searching for a place to put down roots: The three most important factors are location, location, location.
In real estate parlance, it means that a home in a thriving community will carry more value than one in an area where industries have gone south, where roads remain untended and where yards are weed-choked and strewn with litter.
With that wisdom in mind, members of the New Jersey Realtors are making an important statement with the opening of their new headquarters.
They're telling their adopted city that they're throwing their lot in with Trenton's downtown revitalization plans - and that their shiny new $8-million-dollar building on Hamilton Street has a role to play in breathing new life into a city whose best days, they're willing to gamble, are not behind it.
As our grandparents used to say, from their mouths to God's ears.
Realtors' show off new Trenton headquarters
The lobbying group broke ground on the project on an early summer Tuesday in 2015, and spent the last year transforming a vacant lot once owned by the Mercer County Improvement Authority into a 20,000-square-foot building for housing staff, conference space and meeting rooms.
The association, which represents some 45,000 members, is also promising that in addition to a ground-floor patio, the first floor will feature retail and restaurant tenants, the better to attract visitors to the sprawling space across the street from Sun National Bank Center and Trenton Social.
At ceremonies marking the opening of the facility, city, county and state officials lauded the association's move from Edison to Trenton, likening it to such signs of progress as the refurbishing of Roebling Lofts across Route 129, and a new 34,000-square-foot building that will house the School of Nursing at Thomas State University.
We can only echo Mayor Eric Jackson's optimism that the decision by the Realtors to plant their symbolic flag in the state's capital city marks not only an investment but also a commitment.
Of course, it takes more than promises to make a community thrive.
It takes safe and navigable streets above all, as well as strong local schools, affordable housing, nurturing parks, and residents willing to work toward a shared, sustainable future.
As he opened the doors to his new home, association CEO Jarrod Grasso noted the potential it symbolized and the hope that he and his colleagues are the catalyst that brings more development into the City of Trenton.
Welcome to the neighborhood, ladies and gentlemen, and may we all benefit from your presence.
