The process involves five finalists, according to reports, who are the survivors from the more than 20 applications that arrived on BLRA executive director Nicholas Chiaravalloti's desk in response to an RFP. Those five finalists are a partnership between Edwards & Kelcy and DMJM Harris of Morristown, NJ; Parsons Brinkerhoff of Newark; the URS Corp., also of Newark; Langan Engineering of Elmwood Park, NJ; and the Washington Group, based in Princeton, NJ.

As reported earlier, the MOT is designated for redevelopment as a mixed-use project comprised of residential, office, retail, light industrial and maritime uses, including a container port facility. Also proposed are a variety of cultural facilities, as well as open spaces. BLRA, which earlier this year took title to the property from the federal government, projects a build-out cost of more than $1.5 billion over the next two decades.