With great fanfare, officials gathered in Newark Thursday for a groundbreaking of the long-awaited project known as ‘Teachers Village.’ Six years in the making, the design project, led by world-renowned architect and Newark-born Richard Meier, is meant to replace blight near the city’s main downtown corridor with a vibrant new neighborhood where learning is at the center of community life.

The proposed area will have eight new buildings, 200 units of housing for Newark teachers, three new charter schools, a new preschool and 70,000 square feet of retail space.

Funding for the project, which could be complete in two years, has come from Goldman Sachs and Prudential, among others. The development is seen as bridge from the University Heights neighborhood to the west, to the downtown business district and the Ironbound neighborhood to the east.

Director of the Newark Department of Economic and Housing Development Adam Zipkin and Mayor Cory Booker were among those who came out in favor of the project.

NJToday Correspondent David Cruz files this report from Newark.

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