The Redevelopment Agency last week approved a one-year, $75,000 contract with Ryno Marketing Group to assist in redevelopment of the Arts District.
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Tag Archives: Hamilton Street
Redevelopment Agency considers parking options for future amphitheater
The planned amphitheater on Hamilton Street is expected to break ground this fall and be completed in about a year. When the amphitheater and adjacent black box theater opens, where will patrons of the facilities park? City Administrator and Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier raised the issue to the Redevelopment Agency during its monthly meeting last week, initiating a discussion among commissioners about future parking options.
Among those discussed as possibilities were:
* Constructing a 
five- to six-story parking deck near the corner of West Main Street and Elizabeth Avenue;
* Building a deck at the property currently occupied by Cambridge Courts apartments (above) on West Main Street; and,
* Razing the four homes on Hamilton Street between the Bell Building and the amphitheater site for surface parking or a future parking facility.
Pelissier estimated the third option could provide 50 to 80 surface parking spaces and the agency also could pursue a future parking facility for the site. Construction of a parking deck is expensive (~$20,000/space) and buying the homes might be less expensive but just a matter of dealing with multiple property owners, he added.
One suggestion raised last week that was quickly shot down was pursuing a lease with St. Mark’s Church across the street from the amphitheater site. Redevelopment Agency Commissioner Timothy Nash, who sits on the St. Mark’s Church finance committee, told the agency in no uncertain terms that the church property on Hamilton Street is not for sale and will not be decided for at least 18 months. St. Mark’s — not the archdiocese — owns the church property. (St. Mark’s is slated to merge with St. Mary’s Church on Central Avenue, as per directions from the Archdiocese of Newark.)
Council approves Hamilton Street arts projects
With at least one proponent invoking the mythical tale of Prometheus, more than a dozen speakers, including labor union representatives, artists and school officials, last night spoke in favor of borrowing $8.5 million for construction of the Hamilton Street arts projects. Two residents questioned the cost and benefit to city taxpayers.
The City Council last night unanimously approved an $8.5-million bond ordinance to build a 1,100-seat amphitheater (above) at the former Hamilton Laundry site and to renovate the Bell Building (below) to house a black box theater. One speaker after the next noted that the amphitheater project is part of the city’s continuing investment in the Arts District and the overall vision for the arts to drive redevelopment, remaking the city as a destination. (Here’s The Star-Ledger‘s take on last night’s meeting.)
The council last night also unanimously approved ordinances to shift management of the Special Improvement District funds to the Rahway Arts District and to negotiate the purchase of 52 E. Cher
ry St. from the Rahway Center Partnership.
Construction of the amphitheater is still on schedule to begin this fall, City Engineer James Housten told the Redevelopment Agency last week. Remediation of the soil can begin now that a case manager has been assigned by the state for the city’s Brownfields sites. Most all of the soil has been contaminated with fluids used in dry cleaning, he said, adding that it can either be trucked away or mixed with chemicals on site to remediate.
Final approval for amphitheater funding Monday
The City Council is scheduled to vote next Monday night to borrow $8.5 million for three projects planned within the city’s Arts District. A public hearing is scheduled during the council’s regular meeting, which begins at 7:30 p.m. (Click on the image above to enlarge to full screen.)
The ordinance would cover the cost of construction of the 1,000-seat amphitheater; renovation of the Bell Building for a 200-seat black box theater; acquisition of the Elizabethtown Gas building, and acquisition of related arts equipment. The city already has bonded about $3 million for earlier site work and acquisitions, including $2 million to purchase the former Hamilton Laundry building for the amphitheater. The gas building is eyed for a co-operative gallery space, and an adjacent property for artist housing. “It will add a true presence of artists living and working in town,” said Mayor James Kennedy.
The Hamilton Street arts projects aim to become self-sustaining, between naming rights and fee- and non-fee based programming, to pay off the debt, according to City Administrator and Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier. They will feature a different type and level of programming than the Union County Performing Arts Center (UCPAC), the mayor said.
One of the four 2-1/2 story homes between the Bell Building and former Hamilton Laundry site is scheduled to be demolished this spring. Ultimately, the four remaining homes will be acquired and razed to provide more parking for the area, according to Kennedy, ideally within two years.
The site is ideally tailored by the river for an amphitheater, according to Michael Farewell of Princeton-based Farewell Mills Gatsch Architects. “It’s hard to find a better site for an amphitheater,” he said during a presentation to the Redevelopment Agency last month. The project will include stabilizing the bank in the natural curve of the river. The structure, he said, must be designed to withstand floods as well as being exposed to the elements while the lower area of the amphitheater will have removable seating. The only part of the site not within the flood plain is the Bell Building itself, according to City Engineer James Housten
Housten said remediation should take place over the next four to six months. The city, he added, already has a $500,000 state grant for investigation and remediation will be done through the state Brownfield Development Area funding.
If the UCPAC is ever going to be successful, the city must be able to accommodate 800 to 1,000 people with a 400- to 500-space parking deck closer to the arts center, the mayor said. The city is looking at two potential sites for a parking structure: the corner of Elizabeth Avenue and Main Street and the Cambridge Court Apartments on Main Street.
Also at Monday’s meeting, the council is scheduled to give final approval on an ordinance that would shift management of the Special Improvement District from the Rahway Center Partnership to the Arts District board.
Plans for Hamilton Street arts projects to be presented to City Council Monday night
The governing body is scheduled to introduce an $8.5-million bond ordinance Monday for construction of an amphitheater at the former Hamilton Laundry site (photo, right), and renovation of the former Bell Telephone Building into a dance studio and black box theater. The ordinance also would cover funding for the future acquisition of the Elizabethtown Gas building at the corner of Hamilton Street and Central Avenue, according to City Administrator and Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier.
The bond ordinance will supplement $3 million already borrowed for work related to the Hamilton Street projects. A follow-up presentation will take place during the public hearing and final adoption of the bond ordinance, scheduled for the City Council’s March 8 regular meeting. Pelissier said the design option that was selected was the most expensive, but meetings with the Rahway Arts District board wi
The amphitheater will seat between 1,000 and 1,300, and the black box theater about 22o. The plan is to go out to bid this summer and award contracts by September. Construction would begin in October and last about nine months, allowing for operation by sometime in summer 2011.
Contract awarded for razing Hamilton St. home
The City Council awarded a demolition contract for the Hamilton Street house that will be razed as part of the amphitheater project.
The contract, awarded at the Jan. 11 meeting, went to the lowest responsible bidder, Frank Lurch Demolition Co. of Avon By the Sea, for $34,999. The two-story, multi-family home was acquired by the Redevelopment Agency for $340,000, closing in March.
Architects are scheduled to present the final draft of 
FULL DISCLOSURE: Mayor James Kennedy appointed me to a three-year term as an honorary member of the Rahway Arts District Board of Trustees. Honorary members do not vote and do not have the same obligations as other board members, and all are unpaid. I expect to attend meetings whenever possible as a means to keep the community informed.
State of the City 2010
Mayor James Kennedy focused almost exclusively on the arts during his State of City remarks at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting.
Board to consider concept plans presented for amphitheater and black box theater
A committee of the Arts District Advisory Board will review concept plans for projects at the Hamilton Laundry and Bell Building sites. City Engineer James Housten will present plans this week in preparation for developing cost estimates on the two projects.
Housten told Redevelopment Agency commissioners at their meeting this month that a report is expected shortly on the monitoring wells currently on the Hamilton Laundry site. Soil from some areas likely will need to be moved, he added.
Bids to demolish the home adjacent to the Hamilton Laundry site should be i
ntroduced at the January City Council meeting and approved in February, he said.
The Bell Building (photo above) might actually catch up and pass the Hamilton Laundry project depending on environmental remediation, Housten said, adding that environmental issues already taken care of at the Bell Building site.
A 1,000-seat amphitheater at the former Hamilton Laundry site is expected to break ground next year while a black box theater and performing arts space is planned for the Bell Building. The Hamilton Laundry project is among eight sites in Rahway eligible for state funding as a Brownfield Development Area.