It was as much an eye-opener as it was a baptism by fire, as the nonprofit known as Greater Trenton raced to develop a pitch for Amazon’s coveted second headquarters project.

George Sowa recalls an early meeting with the organization’s planning team.

“We sat down in their office and said let’s look at the city with a clean slate,” said Sowa, CEO of Greater Trenton. “And I told them we need to get to 8 million square feet of office space and do it at a scale that’s complementary to the city — with no displacement of residents.

“Frankly, I wasn’t sure what the square footage would be. And then all of a sudden you start going around and adding it all up and we’ve got 14.3 million square feet.”

For Sowa and other stakeholders, the finding was part of an effort that achieved two very important goals. Not only did Trenton submit a competitive, coordinated bid to Amazon — a feat that may have seemed unlikely in past years — but it created a blueprint for showing the city’s vast potential as a vibrant, mixed-use destination for other large corporations.

See full article published on Real Estate NJ.