NEWARK, N.J.— Hollister Construction Services has broken ground on the second of three separate residential buildings at Teachers Village, a $149 million revitalization project that aims to transform Newark’s downtown.
Developed by Ron Beit of the RBH Group and designed by Richard Meier & Partners Architects LLC, the development, to be completed in 2014, will consist of eight low-rise buildings, with Hollister responsible for the ground-up construction of three of the eight buildings.
The first floor of the buildings will encompass 60,000 square feet of retail space with the remaining floors spanning 110,000 square feet of educational space and 250,000 square feet of studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments for a total of 420,000 square feet of new construction.
According to The Star-Ledger, the local newspaper, the idea to incorporate teachers came after the developers realized many of the city’s current educators worked long hours and lived far away. By living closer, they in turn would bring energy and ideas to the area and possibly attract more business.
Two of the project’s eight buildings, located in Newark’s historic Four Corners district, will be leased to charter schools and a daycare. The other six buildings will contain rental apartments and retail to provide a live, work, play environment ideal for city teachers.
“One of Hollister’s core commitments as a company has been to support the ongoing revitalization of Newark, with a special focus on reaching out to the city’s underserved youth, and it is therefore a great honor be part of the team building Teachers Village,” says Chris Johnson, founder and CEO of Hollister Construction Services.
“This extraordinary project, which brings new opportunities to the city, allows us to add our deep expertise as construction managers in Newark to a visionary integration of excellent schools and affordable housing.”
Hollister’s participation in Teachers Village adds to the company’s roster of major recent projects completed in Newark. These include a 180,000-square-foot facility at 52-62 Cornelia St. in Newark’s East Ward, which serves as a distribution center for Wakefern Food Corp.; Damascus Bakeries’ new 72,000-square-foot bakery facility at 60 McClellan St.; Newark Collegiate Academy, a 63,855-square-foot charter high school located at 18-36 Norfolk St.; and the Scott Flamm Center For Afterschool Development, a comprehensive renovation of the headquarters of the All Stars Project at 33 Washington St.
Hollister’s work at Teachers Village entails meeting a number of construction challenges that reflect the project’s location in the heart of downtown Newark. The construction team, led by project manager David Williams and project superintendent Tom Ehrola, is using a modified structural framing and concrete floor construction system that allows the buildings to be raised floor by floor without bringing in heavy equipment to the confined lot for an extended period of time.
Hollister Construction Services is a full-service commercial real estate construction manager specializing in corporate, educational, healthcare, industrial, retail, and residential construction, with offices in Parsippany, N.J., and New York City.
— Matt Valley