Keeping with a pattern of falling crime rates throughout the county and state, Rahway’s crime rate dipped 9 percent last year, according to the state’s annual Uniform Crime Report (UCR), released last week.
Tag Archives: affordable housing
‘Shipping containers’ explored for artist housing
Seven artists picked to live in shipping containers behind the Arts Guild? It could make for an interesting season of MTV’s The Real World, but it’s also an idea being explored as one avenue to bring affordable housing to the city for artists.
In a presentation before the Redevelopment Agency last week, representatives of Global Building Modules (GBM) Design Consortium outlined several different preliminary schemes that would site seven modules in the area behind the Arts Guild at Irving Street and Seminary Avenue. The units would be laid out in a way to include shared green space and concert lawn or some type of performance space with a capacity of 50 to 70 people.
Based on shipping containers, the modules are manufactured overseas and buildings can be constructed in a fraction of the time and cost of traditional construction, according to GBM. Transportation costs also are considerably lower since there is no need for special escorts or permits.
Modules retain only the dimensions of shipping containers (roughly 40 x 8, or 
about 1,280 square feet) and are designed with the aim of zero net energy use, reducing the carbon footprint that comes with traditional construction. The exterior envelope of the structure is wrapped with insulation, windows can be placed anywhere and facade materials can vary. Modules can be organized in different ways, with varying room dimensions. They also are reusable and can be unbolted and reconfigured, or added to another building.
GBM said it has an ongoing relationship with New York University for high-rise housing in Greenwich Village, where modules also can minimize neighborhood impact during construction. As many as a dozen modules can be installed by crane within two days and facades could be seen within three months. They also pointed to projects at 11 Great Jones St. and 135 Crosby St. in Manhattan.
David Wallace of GBM reminded the Redevelopment Agency that the presentation was strictly provisional, “putting ideas out there that are works in progress; they’re not fixed ideas on our part.” Future discussions will focus on programs, the connection to the Arts Guild, music versus art studio space, performance space configurations, LEED goals and energy performance, he said.
The environmental impact of green building has caught the attention of major foundations, according to Mayor James Kennedy, who has sought to include affordable housing for artists to sustain the arts as part the overall redevelopment plan for the city. “Four years ago you couldn’t find a developer who’d do this type of project,” he said, confident that the industry will blossom in the coming years.
Kennedy said the design phase is likely to take many months while the use of Zipcars also will be examined. About seven selected artists, perhaps three performing artists and four visual artists, would act as caretakers of the installation, he said. The Guild site is small enough to test ideas for larger projects, such as the former Elizabethtown Gas building, which could be home to 30 to 70 units of artist housing in the future, Kennedy said. The mayor often talks about retaining artists who come to inexpensive neighborhoods only to get priced out by gentrification.
City Administrator and Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier said the proposal is still very preliminary and there will be further presentations regarding the economics and costs and how the city can address artist housing.
St. Mary’s convent razed
The former convent at St. Mary’s Church on Esterbrook Avenue was razed last week, more than two years after a plan for senior housing was proposed for the site.
Senior housing proposed for St. Mary’s
City Council members were presented Tuesday night with a plan for a four-story, 50-unit affordable senior housing development to replace the former St. Mary’s convent. Use of the church, gymnasium and school buildings at the complex on Central and Esterbrook avenues would not change.
View Larger Map
Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Newark initially needs approval from City Council, which would include a Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILOT), before even applying to the Planning Board. The project would be funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which looks for need and support for such projects. The Archdiocese has built five such projects through its Domus Corporation, a single-asset corporation that brings together government funds with parish properties, said Catholic Charities CEO Phillip Frese.
“The administration is more than convinced of the need for this,” said City Administrator Peter Pelissier.
Council members had some concerns about parking and the size of the new structure. The project would include 49 one-bedroom units and one two-bedroom unit (for a superintendent on site). The existing building would be demolished and some parking spaces and the driveway to Esterbook Avenue would be realigned, said Steve Cohen, an architect for the Archdiocese.
Fifth Ward Councilwoman Jennifer Wenson-Maier disagreed that a new four-story building would fit into the neighborhood, and expressed concerns about parking and that three adjacent residences were not yet contacted by the Archdiocese. Some creative redesign of the layout, she suggested, could allow the building to be pulled to the right, “making everyone happy.”
The population of such a project typically is associated with the municipality in which it’s developed, said Don Lubin, a consultant for the Archdiocese. He estimated 50 to 60 percent of residents have some connection to the municipality. Applicants for the affordable housing must meet three requirements: they must be someone in the household; someone older than 62; and income requirements of less than about $30,000 annually. The typical applicant to such senior housing projects in New Jersey are single females about 75 years old, he said. Individual units are about 540 square feet.