Foley Field receives $100K donation

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — Investors Savings Bank presented Foley Field Foundation with a symbolic check for $100,000 at the Bloomfield Board of Education meeting, Tuesday, March 28. A press conference had been held earlier in the day at the Civic Center to formally announce the 2015 donation.

The money will help construct a community-activities building at the south end of Foley Field. Mike Napolitano, foundation president, said construction costs will total $200,000. Much of that money has already been received.

According to Napolitano, $25,000 is from a former Bloomfield High School graduate, Robert Pascale. Brookdale ShopRite is contributing $25,000 and the Joseph Poniatowski Association is giving $5,000. Another $25,000 has been promised but Napolitano would not name the contributor until paperwork is completed. He said he is still looking for a $25,000 donor from a township concern.
“We’re trying to keep it local,” he said in a telephone interview earlier this week. “We’ll be approaching businesses to see if we can come up with it.”

Applications for grants to several foundations are also being considered. Napolitano named the Loew’s Charitable and Educational Foundation, and the Home Depot Foundation. Funding is also being generated by sponsorships of bleacher seats and the press box.

While Investor Saving is the overall sponsor for the building, other donor acknowledgements are location-specific. Not everything has been decided, but Napolitano said ShopRite will be acknowledged for the ground-level concession stand and the Joseph Poniatowski Association will be acknowledged for a storage area. To be determined is the first-floor promenade, where bathrooms will be located, and an ADA-approved lift for handicap accessibility. Without an operating lift, the building would not get a certificate of occupancy, Napolitano said.
The building is a precast modular construction. Even the 1,875 square-foot foundation is precast.

“It’s an increasingly popular method for post-Sandy work and residential construction,” he said, referencing Superstorm Sandy that hit NJ Oct. 29, 2012.
Right now, the only thing in the way is a powerline pole at the south end of the field which provides electricity to the field house.

“As soon as we get the pole out of the way, late spring, excavation will begin,” Napolitano said. “We’ll have the foundation up in a day.” He said the BOE, the township and PSE&G are working together to remove the pole. It will be replaced by a transformer with underground power lines to the field house.

  FEATURED, MOBILE