Essex County Commits To Union Labor For $38M Parking Decks – West Orange, NJ Patch
ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — A pair of major, upcoming construction projects in Essex County will be done with union labor, officials announced earlier this week.
On Monday, Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr. and representatives from local construction trade unions signed two project labor agreements. The pacts ensure that union members will be hired to work on the development of parking decks at Essex County Turtle Back Zoo in West Orange and the Essex County Hall of Records Complex in Newark.
The two projects represent a combined $38 million of new construction, officials stated.
“We are always looking for ways to improve our facilities and constructing the two decks will provide the additional parking we need at both sites,” DiVincenzo said. “We have a great relationship with the building trades unions and appreciate the professional, skilled labor they provide for our construction projects.”
“It’s great to know we are relied upon to partner with you to rebuild Essex County,” agreed Lino Santiago, Business Representative with the international Union of Operating Engineers Local 825, who represented the construction trades unions.
Other elected officials also praised the decision to hire union workers:
- NJ State Senator and Deputy Chief of Staff Teresa Ruiz – “These construction projects and labor agreements are important because they are putting people to work, improving our quality of life and creating better spaces for Essex County.”
- Essex County Freeholder Len Luciano – “The PLA demonstrates our understanding of how important it is for people to make a fair wage and how much the county depends on skilled workers to complete our projects.”
- Essex County Freeholder Patricia Sebold – “These will be tremendous assets to the community. We are pleased to be partnering with Labor on these projects.”
Monday’s announcement comes on the heels of a similar agreement to use union labor for a $30 million makeover of the Essex County School of Technology in West Caldwell.
That project labor agreement was also inked with the international Union of Operating Engineers Local 825.
County officials provided the following details about the new parking decks at Turtle Back Zoo and the Hall of Records Complex.
TURTLE BACK ZOO
According to county officials:
“The popularity of Turtle Back Zoo has attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors annually and helped establish new annual attendance records in 14 of the last 15 years. Two on-site parking garages were built in 2004 and 2015, but additional parking is still needed. The third parking deck, which will have spaces for about 500 vehicles, will be constructed where the zoo’s maintenance and storage facilities were located. When completed, the first floor of the parking garage will be utilized as the new maintenance and storage area. The covered facility will make operations more efficient and provide better working conditions and cleaner storage areas. The zoo parking deck is scheduled to be completed by November.”
Officials stated:
“Comito Associates from Newark received a $498,725 professional services contract to design the zoo parking deck (the contract also included the design of a train maintenance building). DMD Contracting from Wayne was awarded a publicly-bid $14.5 million contract to build the parking deck. Funding for the parking deck came from the Essex County Operating Budget.”
HALL OF RECORDS
According to county officials:
“The Hall of Records Parking Deck will be constructed on the employee parking lot located off of West Market Street in Newark. The structure will have six levels and the side of the deck that faces the Essex County Veterans Courthouse and Essex County LeRoy F. Smith, Jr. Public Safety Building will have a glass façade to make the structure look like an office building. Construction will begin in April and is scheduled to be completed in November. This parking deck will be designated for employee parking. Vehicles will enter the garage via the current driveway adjacent to Essex County Veterans Memorial Park. A second entrance for the surface parking area will be located off of West Market Street across from the Essex County College Athletic Building. This will be the second parking deck at the Hall of Records; the first was opened in 2008 to accommodate jurors.”
Officials stated:
“Comito Associates from Newark was awarded a professional services contract for $550,000 to design the parking deck and improvements to the remaining surface lot. Terminal Construction from Wood Ridge, N.J., was awarded a publicly-bid contract for $23,520,000 to perform the construction work. The project is being funded through the Essex County Capital Budget.”
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