Photo Courtesy of Glen Frieson County officials gather March 3 for the opening of a 900-car parking deck at the Essex County Government Complex in Newark.
County officials gather March 3 for the opening of a 900-car parking deck at the Essex County Government Complex in Newark.
NEWARK, NJ — A new 900-car parking deck opened March 3 at the Essex County Government Complex in Newark. The new spaces are part of an initiative to provide additional parking spaces, create new offices and courtrooms, and modernize existing facilities.
“We are always looking for ways to make doing business with Essex County easier, more user-friendly and simpler to navigate. The construction of the parking deck is the first of several phases that will expand our parking and office space to provide better conditions for our employees and people visiting the complex,” Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr. said. “We are able to make improvements of this magnitude because of the cooperation and partnership with the Superior Court and our Constitutional Offices.”
“Look around and you will see that a lot has been done to improve this government complex, from the park to the LeRoy Smith Building to the new MLK building that is going to be constructed,” Freeholder Len Luciano said.
“This is a great project because it will make parking for the employees easier and safer,” Sheriff Armando Fontoura said.
The new parking deck is located on the employee parking lot on West Market Street in Newark. The structure has 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 has a glass facade to make the structure look like an office building. The side of the deck that is visible from West Market Street has a design feature consisting of four walls that are engraved with the words “justice,” “leadership,” “safety” and “service” — all meant to describe the mission of the county offices at the government complex. Construction began in April 2019 and was completed in 10 months.
The West Market Street parking deck is designated for employee parking. Visitors and jurors will continue to park in the Jurors’ Parking Lot on South Orange Avenue on the southern side of the building.
Comito Associates, from Newark, received a professional services contract for $550,000 to design the parking deck and improvements to the remaining surface lot. Terminal Construction, from Wood Ridge, received a publicly-bid contract for $23,520,000 to perform the construction work. The project was funded through the Essex County capital budget.
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