Highly Anticipated Community Center Opens At Monte Irvin Orange Park In Essex County

ORANGES, NJ — A ribbon cutting ceremony was held for a new community center at Monte Irvin Orange Park in Essex County on Monday.

The community center is located near the intersection of Central Avenue and Oakwood Avenue. The building is 8,580 square feet and has a multi-purpose room that is nearly 5,000 square feet. There also is a warming kitchen, space for a police substation, an office, storage space, a covered patio for outdoor seating and events, and a parking lot that can fit nearly 50 cars.

According to a news release from the county, DiCara Rubino architects from Wayne was awarded a professional services contract for $522,900 to design the building and park entrance improvements. A publicly bid contract for $9,797,723 was awarded to Tsivikos Enterprises from Neptune City to perform the construction work.

The project is being funded with grants from the State of New Jersey and the Essex County Recreation and Open Space Trust Fund.

The building and park are named in honor of baseball Hall of Famer and Orange native Monte Irvin.

“When we started our initiative to re-imagine the community centers in our parks, it always was our intention to build a facility in Monte Irvin Orange Park which never offered its visitors with a place to hold indoor programs,” Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr. said.

“This is a monumental event, to finally have a place for people to gather in the City of Orange,” Mayor Dwayne Warren said.

“This is a place where people will love coming together,” Orange Council President Adrienne Wooten agreed.

Other local elected officials who gave a thumbs-up to the new community center included U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver, New Jersey Sens. Teresa Ruiz and Britnee Timberlake, New Jersey Assembly members Eliana Pintor Marin and Mike Venezia, Essex County Sheriff Amir Jones, and Essex County Prosecutor Ted Stephens, as well as pastor Melvin Wilson of St. Matthew AME Church.

This week’s ribbon cutting ceremony also saw praise from Monte Irvin’s daughter, Pam Fields.

“I never thought I would see this beautiful building and to have my father’s name on it is amazing,” Fields said.

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