East Orange Property Auction

According to the auction web site, the City of East Orange raised $2,070,000 from it's property auction last Thursday. In true East Orange fashion, it's so difficult to navigate their web sites, so I do not have the purchasers of the properties to post just yet. I will work on getting those.

Catching up

I haven't posted in over a week, so here's an update on news from the past week:

12/12 - Turtle Back Zoo to receieve $1M in improvements
12/12 - Bayonne developers are giving $25M to the City
12/11 - A new studio development to go up in Hoboken
12/10 - Rezoning debates continue in Belleville
12/8 - Redevelopment in West Orange needs $33M of city funds
12/8 - Wave goodbye to an old railroad bridge in Union
12/7 - One Newark Center sold!

Orange, West Orange Valley to become Brownfields

Jon Casiano tells us in the Sunday Star-Ledger, that the State Department of Environmental protection will designate the Orange and West Orange Valley as a Brownfields Development Area tomorrow.

The Valley will be eligible for $10M in grants for environmental cleanup and redevelopment. Hopefully, this will really spearhead progress for this particular project. Many of the old factories in the area are major eyesores that cast a large foreboding presence over the community.

Interminable eminent domain battle over?

Bloomfield Township and downtown developers Forest City Residential, were denied use of eminent domain in the case of 110 Washington St. This battle has been brewing for well over a year now and I'm glad to finally see this resolved. The decision by the Supreme Court not to hear this case is probably a good one, because the Superior Court ruling was the right decision. The redevelopment area in question is not blighted in the least, despite the presence of 110 Washington St. It's simply an ugly building in an ordinary neighborhood and the courts cannot start setting a precedent where eminent domain could be used to demolish any and every ugly building.

Union Center eyeing redevelopment

The Metro Company recently completed a study about redeveloping Union Center (in Union, NJ). The Star-Ledger wrote about it yesterday.

EO ready to raze ugly buildings for the new Hilton complex

At last week's East Orange City Council meeting, contracts were awarded for demolition projects on a couple of redevelopment areas. Most notably, the contract for demolishing the towers on the site of the proposed Hilton hotel/retail/commercial center on Evergreen Place was awarded to Mazzocchi Wrecking.

I cannot wait to see these two buildings go. They're awfully hideous and over the years they lied vacant, the towers were home to squatters, drug dealers and murderers. Burned bodies were found there in 2003.

East Orange Property Auction

On Thursday December 7th, the City of East Orange will be holding an auction of city-owned properties. The two featured properties are a former community center on Washington St., located a block from Dr. King Plaza, and an old colonial home on Midland Ave, near the Bloomfield/Glen Ridge borders. Some abandoned gas stations and vacant lots are available as well. A full list of properties can be found here.