In case you missed last week’s Re-Tweet, NJ Transit issued an advisory that construction on the east stairs of the eastbound train platform will being Oct. 19. The stairway is expected to reopen in mid-November.
If the job is anything like the East Milton Avenue stairs done earlier this year, which were pretty much closed for the second half of 2008, it probably took some time to go out to bid and will cost about $100,000.
What may be the first monument in the state dedicated to those killed in Iraq will be installed at train station plaza later this month.
The Broken Hearts Memorial will be installed by Aug. 29 with an opening ceremony planned Sept. 12.
Local artist Jim McKeon said there are monuments to individual soldiers killed in action in the Middle East but “nothing on this scale dedicated to all of them.”
McKeon is founder of the rahway art hive, an art studio and co-op gallery on East Cherry Street, where he and others have been working on the monument this summer. He’s been mulling the idea for about a year after conversations with friends who have family serving in Iraq.
The monument features 19 interlocking, nine-foot panels that stretch more than 36 feet when fully assembled. Each panel has a silhouette of a soldier covered with 127 hearts, totaling more than 4,000 — one for each U.S. soldier killed in Iraq. The wall is shaped like open hexagons — “vulnerable when standing alone but strong when placed back to back.”
Each heart will bear the word “MOM,” McKeon said, making an “iconic tattoo image into something powerful.” A heart will be added for each soldier killed, making it a kind of living tribute.
The memorial is constructed to be permanent or temporary. McKeon expects it might be in the plaza for about a year and hopes to make it a traveling exhibit to display in other towns. Between volunteer time and some contributions from the city for materials, he estimated the monument cost about $7,500. But the Broken Hearts campaign is also aiming to raise $43,000 for the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, for a new hospital in Bethesda, Md.
A ribbon cutting ceremony will be Sept. 12 when the public will be invited to participate by painting one of the thousands of hearts, with the word “MOM” already stenciled in. After the opening date, public participation will be accepted on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and by appointment.
An nj.com report this week quotes Dornoch managing partner Glen Fishman claiming that work at The Savoy is expected to begin within 30 days. It’s been almost a year since steel went up at the site at the corner of Main and Monroe streets.
Dornoch had to replace a lender who backed out, according to the report. Their other planned development, The Westbury, will follow. “You’re never going to get financing for a 150-unit building [Westbury] until you sell out your 36-unit building [Savoy],” Fishman told nj.com.
City Administrator and Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier still stands by Fishman even though Dornoch has not built anything yet. Something ultimately will be built at The Westbury site though not in the immediate or near future, he said during a progress report to the Redevelopment Agency board last month. Pelissier offered commissioners an overview of projects around town over the past decade, adding that “every project may not materialize as originally conceived.”
Dornoch “did come in and buy up some nasty properties,” Pelissier said, suggesting that the site for The Westbury be acquired by lease for temporary surface parking in the meantime.
Though he said he’s not positive it will be built, in a meeting as recently as June 30, Pelissier said Fishman gave verbal assurances that they would move on The Savoy. A forebearance letter from Wachovia bank, which restructured the deal, should give comfort to Dornoch’s financial backers, Pelissier said.
Assuming 18 months for construction, if The Savoy does begin this month, you’re talking early 2011 before focus shifts to The Westbury site.
Most of you seem to think Irving Street could do without a couple of the stop signs, according to the latest poll:
A four-story, 507-space parking deck, estimated to cost $10.3 million, will be the option pursued for Lot B. It will be a while, however, until it’s built.
I forked over $17.50 to the Parking Authority for a copy of the 45-page final downtown parking assessment by Blue Bell, Pa.-based Tim Haahs and Associates, commissioned last year. I finally got to reviewing it and will present it in two posts: parking needs followed by recommendations tomorrow.
Not the sexiest of poll questions, but it’ll give you something to do while you’re visiting the site. Check out the new poll on the right side of the page (which was submitted by a reader!).
Continue reading Two-way traffic a year later: love it or hate it?
Ever been to the Station Bar and Grill in downtown Garwood? Another one’s coming to downtown Rahway.
Continue reading Station Bar & Grill slated for Irving Street