In October 2025, Audible opened The Pillars, an innovative retail hub at 33 Washington Street in Newark, New Jersey – the company’s global headquarters city – as its largest philanthropic investment to date. Audible renovated the 15,000-square-foot ground floor and facade of the prominent building in downtown Newark’s vibrant Arts and Education District, transforming the space into a hub for local businesses, visitors, and community. The Pillars serves as an anchor for the neighborhood, featuring an inviting central court and three distinct retail spaces featuring local businesses that blend wellness, artisanal home goods, and hand-crafted beauty products—with a fourth anchor food and beverage tenant to be announced in 2026.
The Pillars embodies Audible’s ambitious neighborhood development strategy and showcases how thoughtful corporate investment can transform urban spaces by combining commerce, culture, and community engagement. At the core of this investment is a deeply rooted belief in community and an unwavering commitment to the revitalization of Newark, which Audible has held true to since relocating to the city in 2007. The project celebrates the deep history and legacy of our neighborhood, and has engaged the local community for feedback on the building’s design and retail tenants. Alongside this project, Audible has launched a robust calendar of events hosted at The Pillars as well as community programming in the adjacent Harriet Tubman Square, to activate the whole neighborhood, increasing foot traffic and highlighting local businesses.
Planning for Audible’s redevelopment of 33 Washington Street began in 2021. Audible collaborated closely with our neighbors to shape the redevelopment of 33 Washington, seeking input from local stakeholders, community organizations, residents in nearby residential buildings (including the Historic James Street Commons), municipal agencies, and regional organizations to ensure that The Pillars met the needs of the community without creating adverse effects for the people we aimed to serve.
Early on in the project, we hosted two community workshops and issued a community feedback survey for local residents, students, business, community organizations, and others to gather direct input on the retail businesses, programming and amenities our community wanted to see in the neighborhood and get feedback on our proposed plans for 33 Washington’s redesign. This inclusive approach enabled us to create a multi-use space that drives effective economic, creative, and community engagement.
We undertook a thoughtful process to select tenants for the three retail spaces at The Pillars (with a fourth tenant opening soon). We first developed a curatorial strategy for the types of retailers we wanted to include, incorporating community input. We commenced a nationwide search for retailers that met our determined criteria, ensuring we ended up with a diverse mix of offerings and price points and businesses that would draw repeat customers as well as visitors through on-site activations.
We proactively communicated efforts with residents and neighboring institutions, including the Newark Public Library, Rutgers University and the Newark City Parks Foundation in an effort to mitigate any potential disruptions from street closures and noise during construction through to the future opening of 33 Washington. During construction, we worked with the Newark Museum of Art to ensure their newly restored Ballantine House was not negatively impacted during construction, including the overhaul of 33 Washington’s façade as well as the new streetscaping implemented around 33 Washington Street.
Demolition at 33 Washington began in December 2023 and construction began in August 2024. The Pillars officially opened in October 2025 with three flagship businesses and a fourth expected to open in late 2026. As of March 2026, The Pillars construction is complete and the retail fitout is over 75% complete.
Audible’s implementation strategy was centered around deep collaboration with community organizations, local residents, city agencies, and over 75 cross-functional internal stakeholders. This inclusive approach enabled the creation of this multi-use space that drives effective economic, creative and community engagement.
By serving as the primary leaseholder, Audible helps de-risk leases for the property owner and enables small businesses to access prime retail space at subsidized rates—removing common barriers to entry by aligning corporate resources with neighborhood economic development goals.
Long-term sustainability is supported through strategic partnerships with city leadership, community organizations, developers, and entrepreneurs, alongside ongoing tenant support. By prioritizing businesses and partnerships that reflect Newark’s community and embedding regular programming and events into the space, The Pillars is designed to remain active and relevant—creating a scalable, community-centered model for corporate investment that can evolve and grow over time.
The outcomes of The Pillars have directly advanced Audible’s goal of inclusive economic development in Newark by addressing long-standing gaps in access to capital, physical retail space, and community-centered amenities. By activating vacant storefronts, supporting underrepresented entrepreneurs, and creating a hub for small businesses and community programming, The Pillars has created tangible, neighborhood-level benefits. In Newark, these outcomes have helped contribute to a more vibrant, walkable downtown and reinforced Audible’s role as an anchor institution committed to equitable, community-driven growth.
The Pillars enables Audible and other collaborators, such as the City of Newark, Newark City Parks Foundation, the Newark Public Library, and the Newark Museum of Art, to accelerate the return on our impact goals of increasing foot traffic and spending at local businesses to further drive the revitalization of the downtown Newark neighborhood. The Pillars has increased foot traffic and fostered neighborhood vibrancy: since opening in October 2025, 25+ community events have attracted 2,300+ attendees, increasing activity and engagement. From its diverse project team to its programming and tenants, The Pillars prioritizes inclusive, community-centered economic development.
The Pillars has received extensive press coverage with 53+ earned media hits in premium outlets such as ESSENCE, Inc. Magazine, NJBIZ, and ROI NJ with over 71 million impressions. This positive press coverage generates meaningful exposure for the project and for the city of Newark.
