Design Work on New Oliver St. School Underway

The design phase for the new Oliver Street School in the East Ward has begun and construction is expected to start later this year, the state Schools Development Authority said.

The new building - which will be erected at Railroad Avenue and Oliver Street, just west of the old structure -- should be finished by 2016, said Marc Larkins, head of the SDA. The new facility will include general classrooms, specialized instructional classrooms and labs, a media center, multipurpose assembly room, cafeteria and gymnasium and administrative and support facilities. It will serve students in pre-K through eighth grade.

“We are proud that the program is finally bringing the first new school replacement project to the Newark Ironbound community,” said Larkins. “This project has enjoyed overwhelming community support and this advertisement represents the next step towards the new school becoming a reality.”

Epic Management, Inc. of Piscataway was awarded a $40.9 million design-build contract in April for the design and construction of the new school. As part of the design-build contract, Epic Management, Inc. will work with Nadaskay Kopelson Architects of Morristown on the design. Gilbane Building Company of Lawrenceville was awarded a construction management contract for the project.

The Ironbound contains some of the oldest schools in the city and the state. Oliver Street School, built in 1869, is one of five schools over a century old located in the ward. Parents have complained that the ward’s students are being educated in antiquated buildings even as state-of-the-art schools have been built elsewhere in the city.

Created more than a decade ago, the SDA built Science Park High School (2006), First Avenue School (2007), Central High School (2008), Park School (2009) and Speedway Avenue Elementary School (2010). The Oliver Street facility will be the sixth school the agency has built in Newark and the first in the Ironbound.