IRVINGTON, NJ — Mayor Tony Vauss, who has used branding and social media to get his message out about the “New Irvington,” recently broadcast the Dec. 6 Job and Contractor Fair organized by his administration in partnership with IHOP owner Adenah Bayoh and her fellow Hilltop Partners developer, Matt Gross.
“Today, we’re hosting our first-ever Job and Contractors Fair and it’s part of the mayor’s initiative to insure that the local residents in Irvington are employed first and benefit first from all of the economic development activities that are being undertaken in the township,” Genia Philip, director of the Department of Economic Development, said Tuesday, Dec. 6.
“One of the things I wanted to do when I became mayor was to say: ‘Look, our people deserve opportunity first,’” Vauss said Tuesday, Dec. 6. “This is a first source agreement that we like to enforce in the township; when you do business in the township, we want you to offer employment to our people first.”
Bayoh and Gross agreed with this notion, as did the rest of the Hilltop Partners group.
“We couldn’t ask for a better turnout,” said Bayoh on Tuesday, Dec. 6. “We got some really, really good folks from the community that came out.”
Gross said they also got a good look at all the talent and skills available to anyone seeking to conduct development and redevelopment projects in Irvington.
“We are here from Hilltop Partners, redeveloping the former Irvington General Hospital site, and the importance of hiring locally is crucial to create jobs and opportunity where we are doing real estate development,” Gross said Tuesday, Dec. 6. “We had people come out that ranged from a lot of construction experience — 30 years construction experience — that are highly certified, people who are looking to start construction for their first job, and we really had a big range, which shows that there is a depth of talent in Irvington.”
On May 18, 2015, Vauss and Bayoh joined her Hilltop Project Group partners — Patrick Terborg, Matthew Gross and Lettire Construction — at the ribbon-cutting and groundbreaking ceremony at the 6.5-acre site of the old Irvington General Hospital facility, which sits directly across the street from Chancellor Avenue Elementary School.
On May 26, Bayoh announced that Phase 1 of the project, the demolition of the old Irvington General Hospital site, was under way; now that is complete, Bayoh and Gross said they are looking forward to starting Phase 2, the construction process.
Vauss has said the new mixed use residential and retail space project will be a boon to Irvington.
To see job fair footage, visit https://www.facebook.com/tonyvauss/posts/10207793035375126.
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