ISELIN — Holding a press conference on the top floor of the parking garage next to the Metropark train station might have seemed like an unusual place to promote NJ Transit’s new real estate plan , but it was purposeful for Kris Kolluri.

In the background of that parking garage is the fast-rising new headquarters for Hackensack Meridian Health , a deal NJ Transit struck last year that would build housing, a “comprehensive health network” and other retail opportunities at a major transit hub — while generating revenue for the agency.

Kolluri, NJ Transit’s president and CEO, wanted to send a message to developers that they can do — and are already doing — what has been talked about for years: leveraging the agency’s vast real estate portfolio to develop housing, retail, commercial an

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