Friday, December 25, 2015

Demolition Slated for Abandoned South Orange Pumping Station


South Orange, New Jersey: A long abandoned South Orange building will be torn down, according to village officials. 


The former main pumping station of the South Orange Water Department, located off of Walton Road near the South Orange Department of Public Works facility, will be demolished to make way for the South Orange River Greenway project. Several surrounding buildings, which were part of the South Orange Kennel, are slated for demolition as well.


According to South Orange Village Trustee Walter Clarke, construction on the greenway will "hopefully" begin in the fall of 2016. Clarke said that the pumping station "will ... be memorialized in an area of the greenway path nearby". 

The greenway, when completed, will be a walkway and bikeway that will connect West Parker Avenue in Maplewood with Meadowland Park in South Orange. The path will pass through Chyzowych Field in Maplewood, which is owned by South Orange Village, and will cross the East Branch of the Rahway River using a new bridge that will be constructed. The existing bridge has been closed off for two years. The part of the greenway linking Meadowland Park with West South Orange Avenue was completed several years ago.

The pumping station sits in a flood zone next to the East Branch of the Rahway River. Currently, graffiti covers large portions of the outside and inside of the building. Part of the interior of the pumping station is flooded. 

A nature center had originally been planned for the building in the project master plan from 2007. 


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