Newark Arcade’s Revival Celebrates Local Shops and Community History

In the early 1900s, visitors to downtown Newark would find the arcade at North Third Street buzzing. The Newark Arcade featured more than 30 shops when it opened in 1909 and served as a community hub for decades before falling into disrepair in the late 1970s. 

It housed few shops in the years that followed and was on continuous fire watch due to its age and condition. Then, Newark Development Partners, an organization dedicated to revitalizing the city’s downtown, purchased the property in 2019 and got to work. 

“The arcade being such a large project and being able to contribute to the revitalization is one thing,” says PJ Sullivan, executive director of Newark Development Partners. “The other [thing] is the amount of people that remember the original arcade. … They’ve seen it fall into disrepair, and now to see it back to its original look and feel is special.”

Since the project was a restoration rather than a renovation, certain elements of the property had to be brought back to their original appearance, like the etching on the skylights, which was made to mimic the look of the original glass. The restoration took four years, with the arcade reopening in February 2025. It now houses 21 locally owned stores spanning home goods and bath supplies to books and apparel. Food options include a bottle shop with small plates, a coffeehouse and The Downtown Ice Cream Parlor, which is modeled after an old-fashioned ice cream shop. 

Nineteen loft apartments can be found upstairs, and an upscale Italian restaurant, Fantuzzo’s, is expected to open in March 2026. The arcade hosts weekly winter farmers markets too. 

“Having a place where you can go in, stroll around, get warm, get a cup of coffee [and] grab something to eat makes people more prone to doing things downtown,” Sullivan says. 31 N. Third St., Newark 43055, 740/349-9340, historicnewarkarcade.com 

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