Phase 1 of the $150M, six-building Teachers Village that's supposed to reinvent Newark celebrated its opening last week. No wonder Super Mayor Cory Booker (speaking, with Ron Beit, CEO of developer RBH Group) came for the party. Just opened are 230-240 Halsey St with Spark Academy and Discovery Charter School, plus eight stores opening in the coming months, and 24 Maiden Ln with Great Oaks Charter School and Chen Daycare, plus three stores coming soon. The residential starts delivering next year: 35 Maiden Ln with 21 apartments for teachers and three stores, 42 William St with 40 apartments and three stores, and 243 Halsey St with 62 apartments and seven stores. In 2015: 90 apartments and four stores.

It's never too early to start. Richard Meier & Partners Architects' Remy Bertin, KSS Architects' Katherine Weaver and Kyle Rendall, Phelps Construction Group's Jeffrey Rainforth, and KSS's Matthew McChesney lend their expertise to Teachers Village students, who are building schools with Legos. Eight retail tenants have leased 13k SF: Mad Cool Fitness, Kids in Business, Krauszer's, Provident Bank, Tonnie's Minis, Sudsy Water, and Chicken Jones from restaurateur Michael Vann. Term sheets or leases are out for 19k SF more, which would bring the entire development's retail to half leased.