Council ties on Riviera Hotel lease; proposal to convert site to homeless services fails

A motion to authorize a long‑term lease of the Riviera Hotel to expand homeless services failed on a tie vote at the Newark Municipal Council on April 2.

The Office of Homeless Services presented the lease as an extension of emergency work begun in mid‑2023. The director said the city had engaged the hotel owners in June 2023 to respond to urgent conditions at another site and that the site had since sheltered residents. “We served over 700, Newark residents since June of 20 23,” the director said. She described a proposed long‑term program that would renovate floors 2 and 3 into roughly 40 rooms for transitional housing, and turn the ground floor into a “community resource hub” with space for service providers, a cafeteria and multipurpose rooms for emergencies and community engagement.

The terms in the lease attracted attention from multiple speakers. The lease description in the meeting record said the annual rent would be approximately $0 for the first two years (rent‑free) and escalate to an “approximate annual rental not to exceed almost $4,000,000 in year 10.” Several residents and community leaders pushed back on the administration’s prior dealings with the Riviera, questioned accounting for earlier federal and local funds spent at the site, and raised concerns about the site’s past conditions and ownership ties. “This Riviera deal was a bad deal,” Aleef Mohammed said, describing prior problems and calling for caution.

After public comment and council discussion, the council proceeded to a roll call. The vote resulted in a tie and the motion “failed to adopt,” the clerk announced.

Council members and public commenters pressed for additional transparency and oversight. Speakers asked how rent escalations would be funded, which city funds or grants would support the program, whether vouchers used during emergency placements had been diverted from other programs, and how oversight of service delivery and capital renovation would be provided.

What’s next: With the tie vote, the lease authorization did not pass. Staff and council members indicated the item could be revisited if the administration provides further documentation addressing funding, oversight, prior contract payments and the projected timeline for renovations and service delivery.