Walter D. McNeil Jr., executive director of the Orange Housing Authority, speaks about the building being torn down on Central Place and what will replace it.
ORANGE — It took about an hour for the 143-year-old building at 179 Central Place to come down.
“It was built in 1881,” said Walter D. McNeil Jr., executive director of the Orange Housing Authority. “You can imagine, the building materials were not the best.”
It was a two family home acquired by the Orange Housing Authority in 2009 on a block that is undergoing revitalization; about a quarter of the street already has modern townhouses shaded by trees along the sidewalk and more than 40 new homes are in the works.
The building at 179 will be replaced by three new structures that will also cover the adjoining lot at 183, which is also owned by the Housing Authority. The three new structures will include three, two bedroom units with improved insulation and green appliances, including washers, driers and refrigerators. The units will have four off street parking spaces.
“We’re happy we’re getting this done,” McNeil said. “We are making progress. We are going to build decent, affordable housing that people will be happy to live in.”
The neighborhood, which is bordered by Monte Irvin Orange Park on its west end and Freeway Drive and Route 280 on its east side, is seeing a lot of residential development.
“This is a saga and story about a neighborhood that was old and decrepit and together with the Housing Authority it will be part of the revitalization of Orange,” said Mayor Dwayne D. Warren. “It was a community that had been neglected for decades.”
A woman who lives next door to 179 said she was glad to see it come down. She said she had called the police a week prior to report squatters in the building and she was worried about a fire starting there and spreading to her home.
The new structures at 179 and 183 Central Place should be completed in the spring of 2025.
Across the street, 16 units will be built in the next 18 months; another 18 more will go up on Parrow Street at the east end of the neighborhood; and another 10 more in different locations on Central Place should be completed over the next year and a half.
“This is a continuation of all we’ve been doing for 25 years,” said Housing Authority Chairperson Ernest Wiliams. “We are transforming this entire block.”
McNeil is not done though, he’s looking a block over at Hickory Street where he would like to see some more new housing.
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