Tag Archives: Arts District

Arts District, Downtown, Parking, Redevelopment Agency

Contract awarded for Hamilton Street parking

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Two months after rejecting bids for the amphitheater parking lot project, the Redevelopment Agency awarded a $1.1-million contract to Gingerelli Bros at its meeting earlier this month. Berto Construction submitted a bid of $1.6 million. Bids were received July 29.

A pre-construction meeting is scheduled for next week, City Engineer James Housten said, after which construction should begin, including work on drainage, stream bank stabilization, curbing and lighting foundations. Work is expected to be completed in conjunction with renovations of the Hamilton Stage, which is expecting to be finished in the spring. Toms River-based Gingerelli Bros. also is the firm that was awarded the $5.825-million contract for the Hamilton Stage.

The Redevelopment Agency early this year decided to delay building the amphitheater and instead build about 115 parking spaces in the interim.

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The center stairs of the inbound platform of Rahway Train Station finally opened today, approximately 18 months after they were closed for repairs. 18 months. NJ Transit also issued an advisory this week that as part of repairs to the elevator on the outbound platform (which are expected to last until early next month), travelers will not be able to use the sidewalk to the corner of Milton Avenue and Broad Street from Monday to Thursday of next week due to the installation of a pump and tank next to the pedestrian tunnel.

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Rahway

Irene leaves her mark

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Few places in Rahway were spared from Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene this past week. The heaving banks of the Rahway River and Milton Lake spilled out onto streets, leaving the Veterans Field underwater, felling trees along St. Georges Avenue and elsewhere.

Former Mayor James Kennedy, now executive director of the Arts District, thought the Hamilton Stage for the Performing Arts, now under construction, “fared well” (photo above). The 4 inches of water on the platform “more than likely would not have had the opportunity to enter the building if it were all closed in,” he said via email. “I’m not concerned about the water here. The houses to the left, facing the building, really need to be removed; but the building will be fine,” Kennedy said.

The plan is to eventually acquire the remaining homes and create parking for Hamilton Stage and the adjacent amphitheater (photo left). Due to the rising costs of the arts projects, however, interim parking will take the space of the amphitheater for the time being.

Having grown up on the corner of River Road and Church Street, Kennedy said he’d never seen a storm this bad but is confident that more mitigation will occur upstream in the future.

For more images of flooding throughout Rahway, see our Facebook page, where we’ve shared quite a few compilations from readers. Thanks to everyone who shared their great photos!

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Arts District

Hamilton Stage taking shape

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The future Hamilton Stage for the Performing Arts (a.k.a., the former Bell Building) has been taking shape, with the steel structure extending further toward the sidewalk in recent weeks. The 220-seat black box theater and performing arts space is scheduled to open next summer (here’s a floor plan).

For a peek at what it looked like when work first started this spring, check out this previous post.

The deadline for requests for proposals (RFPs) to become an artistic affiliate of the Hamilton Stage has been pushed back eight weeks, to Oct. 12.

RFPs were posted (.pdf) on the Arts District website this summer, and originally were to be received by Aug. 17. About 20 companies had expressed interest by June.

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The Rahway Arts District is sponsoring an “I ‘Art Rahway” giveaway. Tell them why you ‘Art Rahway (follow the link), and you’ll be entered to win a T-shirt signed by musician Nicole Adkins, who performed here this summer. Winners will be announced at the Oct. 6 First Thursday.

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Polls

Would you use Zipcar?

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Would you use Zipcar if there was one at Rahway train station? For those unfamiliar with Zipcar, here’s a brief summary and history of the company. A reader email prompted this post and thought it’d make for a potential discussion to accompany a blog poll.

Continue reading Would you use Zipcar? →

City Council

Bond sale included $7.8M for redevelopment

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It’s long overdue for some details about the city’s bond sale this past spring that I promised last month when I posted the city’s top 10 property taxpayers.

The city borrowed almost $12 million in general improvement bonds, including almost $8 million for redevelopment- and arts-related items.

Ten of the 22 items in the $11.765 million bond sale were related to redevelopment, totaling $7.78 million for redevelopment, more than half of it related to the Hamilton Street arts projects. About $783,750 was authorized in 2007, which covered architectural concept plans, planning and engineering, surveying, DEP permitting, floor plans and elevations, and demolition of the Hamilton Laundry building. Another $4.5 million was authorized last year, but only $3 million borrowed so far, for the Arts District’s amphitheater, which would cover the renovation of the Bell Building (now referred to as the Hamilton Stage), construction of the amphitheater, acquisition of arts related equipment and eventual acquisition of the Elizabethtown Gas building (Block 167, Lot 1).

A breakdown of the 10 items, some dating back to 2000, can be found in this Excel file, including the amounts authorized and bonds issued, along with a brief description. At the April bond sale, the city secured a rate just below 4.51 percent over 20 years from J.P. Morgan (UBS Financial was the other bidder, coming in at under 4.59 percent). The bonds mature annually on April, beginning in 2012 at $350,000, increasing to $450,000 in 2015, $550,000 in 2016, $560,000 in 2017 and $640,000 in 2018, before leveling out at $700,000 annually through 2030. The complete maturity schedule can be found in this Excel file.

In tomorrow’s post, we’ll take a look at what Standard & Poor’s had to say in its report on the city.

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NJ Monthly magazine’s Table Hopping with Rosie paid a visit to Patria Restaurant and Mixology Lounge. She called it “a place in NJ that should be on your must-try list.” Overall, she had quite a few good things to say, calling the garlic shrimp better than anything found in Newark, and advising not to miss some entrees (including Patria pork, and I must agree) as well as dessert.

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Arts District, Parking, Rahway

Bids rejected for interim parking at theater site

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The Redevelopment Agency rejected two bids for construction of interim parking at the site of the proposed Hamilton Street amphitheater. A new bid could be awarded by next month.

The two bidders — Berto Construction and Gingerelli Bros. — were about $500,000 apart, one reason why they were rejected, according to City Engineer James Housten, though seven contractors purchased bid packets. (Gingerelli Bros. earlier this year was awarded the $5.825-million bid for the Hamilton Stage project at the Bell Building.)

When the Redevelopment Agency decided several months ago to put the amphitheater on hold and instead build an interim parking lot at the Hamilton Street site, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) determined that a different permit would be required, Housten said. Meetings with state officials, however, have led to a more favorable recommendation, he said, with the process and cost to a less than if the agency had followed the DEP’s original edict and see another permit.

Part of the bid included removing remediated soil, which Housten said will be tested and determined exactly what it contains and how much there is. That process might provide for less expensive bids when the project goes out to bid next week. He hopes to have a resolution to award a new contract at the agency’s August meeting.

Early this year, the Redevelopment Agency decided to delay building the amphitheater and instead construct an interim parking lot to accommodate the Hamilton Stage. Commissioners also held off on acquiring three remaining homes on Hamilton Street that were slated to eventually become parking areas.

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Uncategorized

Art gallery/tattoo parlor gets approval

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A combination art gallery and tattoo parlor gained approval from the Redevelopment Agency. Times Of Grace would be located at 1417 Main St., previously occupied on occasion by a Jackson Hewitt Tax Service office.

Robert Mankowski and his wife, Hayley, made a presentation to commissioners at the agency’s monthly meeting this week. Both are graduates of the University of The Arts in Philadelphia and have had their work shown around the nation.

Director of Community Development and Redevelopment Agency Secretary Cindy Solomon told commissioners that a resolution would be necessary not for the art gallery but the tattoo parlor planned to go with it. A tattoo parlor is not a permitted use in the business district so a resolution was required by the Redevelopment Agency, similar to when Rose City Tattoos moved in on West Main Street.

The fine arts gallery would be visible from the street but the tattoo parlor would be in the rear of the space and by appointment only, said Mankowski, who would be the lone tattoo artist. He aims to avoid a stereotypical tattoo parlor that people might think of when they think of tattoos (“No neon signs”), but instead draw people inside through the artwork on display.

A couple of commissioners preferred that the art gallery be more prominent than the tattoo parlor in any signage, and that the resolution also specific the limited number of tattoo artists and the fact that it would be by appointment only.

Mankowski, who first hand-draws each custom tattoo, hopes to open the gallery/tattoo parlor later this summer.

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