{"id":10620,"date":"2025-11-09T15:00:04","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T15:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/?p=10620"},"modified":"2025-11-09T15:00:04","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T15:00:04","slug":"i-might-live-here-inside-queen-latifahs-secret-beverly-hills-base-and-the-76-unit-complex-in-newark-thats-now-her-real-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/?p=10620","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI might live here\u201d: Inside Queen Latifah\u2019s Secret Beverly Hills Base\u2014And the 76-Unit Complex in Newark That\u2019s Now Her ‘Real’ Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

Queen Latifah<\/b> (born Dana Elaine Owens<\/b>), the pioneering rapper and versatile entertainer, has long embodied a bi-coastal identity\u2014her roots are firmly in New Jersey, but her career as an actress and producer, notably in the Oscar-nominated film Chicago<\/i><\/b> (2002), necessitates a base on the West Coast. While she maintains a private residence in <\/span>Beverly Hills, California<\/span><\/b>, her ultimate commitment and emotional <\/span>“real home”<\/span><\/b> is now the city of <\/span>Newark, New Jersey<\/span><\/b>, through a groundbreaking real estate development project.1<\/sup><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\ud83c\udfe1 The Newark Homecoming: RISE Living<\/span><\/h3>\n

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The actress and co-founder of the <\/span>BlueSugar Corporation<\/span><\/b> has made a massive, personal commitment to revitalizing her hometown.2<\/sup><\/span> Through her development firm, she spearheaded the <\/span>RISE Living<\/span><\/b> mixed-use housing project in Newark, an endeavor that took over a decade to bring to fruition.3<\/sup><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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  • Project Scale:<\/b> The development is a <\/span>76-unit complex<\/span><\/b> with an estimated cost of <\/span>$14 million<\/span><\/b>.4<\/sup><\/span> It is designed to transform a long-troubled block in the South Ward of Newark.5<\/sup><\/span><\/span>\n
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  • Unit Breakdown:<\/span><\/b> The project includes <\/span>20 three-family townhomes<\/span><\/b> (60 units) set at market rate, and a three-story mixed-use building with <\/span>16 affordable housing units<\/span><\/b> (for those earning less than 80% of the area’s median income).6<\/sup><\/span><\/span>\n
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  • Inspiration and Name:<\/b> The complex is named <\/span>RISE Living<\/span><\/b>, an acronym for <\/span>\u201cRita Is Still Everywhere,\u201d<\/span><\/b> a loving tribute to her late mother, <\/span>Rita Owens<\/span><\/b>, a former schoolteacher in Newark.7<\/sup><\/span><\/span>\n
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  • Personal Statement:<\/span><\/b> At the groundbreaking ceremony, Queen Latifah spoke about her connection to the area, stating, <\/span>“I would want to live here.8<\/sup><\/span> I might live here.”<\/span><\/b> This sentiment, shared with CBS2, underscores the development’s quality and her intention to fully return to her roots.9<\/sup><\/span><\/span>\n
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    The project addresses a major community need: a 2021 study by the Rutgers Center on Law, Inequality, and Metropolitan Equity estimated that Newark needed an additional <\/span>16,000 low-rent units<\/span><\/b> to meet the demand of its residents, many of whom are “cost-burdened” by high rental prices.10<\/sup><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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    The Bi-Coastal Balance: From Colts Neck to Beverly Hills<\/span><\/h3>\n

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    Queen Latifah\u2019s residences have historically reflected her professional demands:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
    Residence<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\nLocation<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\nData\/Significance<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
    Former Colts Neck Estate<\/b><\/span><\/td>\nNew Jersey<\/span><\/td>\nSprawling, custom-built mansion on over nine acres with 7,000+ square feet and an Olympic-sized pool.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Reason for Sale<\/b><\/span><\/td>\nSold around 2014.<\/span><\/td>\nSold to accommodate the demands of her work, particularly the time required to produce her talk show, necessitating a shift to the West Coast.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Current West Coast Base<\/b><\/span><\/td>\nBeverly Hills, California<\/span><\/td>\nShe reportedly maintains a main, highly private home here, purchased around 2005<\/b>, to ensure close proximity to the major film and television production hubs for projects like her hit CBS show, The Equalizer<\/i><\/b>.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    While the private address in Beverly Hills provides the necessary convenience for her thriving film and television career\u2014including her Golden Globe-winning role<\/b> as the jazz singer Matron “Mama” Morton<\/b> in the 2002 film version of Chicago<\/i><\/b>\u2014her public and philanthropic efforts have cemented Newark as the emotional heart of her life.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Queen Latifah (born Dana Elaine Owens), the pioneering rapper and versatile entertainer, has long embodied a bi-coastal identity\u2014her roots are firmly in New Jersey, but her career as an actress and producer, notably in the Oscar-nominated film Chicago (2002), necessitates a base on the West Coast. While she maintains a private residence in Beverly Hills,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10620\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}