June 24, 2015 • www.theobserver.com • Vol CXXVIII, No. 5 Visit our
BUSINESS DIRECT on
COVERING: BELLEVILLE • BLOOMFIELD
Historic church getting facelift
By Ron Leir Observer Correspondent
see KINGSLAND page
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• EAST NEWARK • HARRISON • KEARNY • LYNDHURST • NORTH ARLINGTON • NUTLEY
Kingsland meadows site sold LYNDHURST/ NORTH ARLINGTON – At one time, the Kingsland meadowlands tract was to be the site for a giant development: a sprawling golf course, then luxury apartments and hotels, to be built by EnCap Golf Holdings. But EnCap went bust in 2008, leaving in its wake Lyndhurst, North Arlington and Rutherford with millions in debt – instead of dividends – resulting from public obligations linked to the project, endorsed by the then-New Jersey Meadowlands Commission. After the deal collapsed, the property reverted to the NJMC. Last Thursday, the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority – which has absorbed the NJMC – hoped to make up for that debacle by voting to sell 718 acres of the former Kingsland landfill property to Kingsland Development LLC, of Carteret, for $42.5 million. At the same time, the NJSEA commissioners stipulated that if the designated buyer “does not close [the real estate deal] in a reasonable period of time,” then the property will go to Valleybrook 2014 LLC, reportedly owned by Hampshire Partners VIII
RY
By Ron Leir Observer Correspondent BELLEVILLE –
T
Photos by Ron Leir
Riggers from Cole NYC work on steeple of historic Dutch Reformed Church -- now La Senda Antigua -- in Belleville. (inset: Cross at top of steeple had been teetering precariously before workers safely removed it.)
he dangling cross at the top of the steeple at the historic former Dutch Reformed Church is safely down and in storage for now and a contractor is repairing the steeple. The Rev. Miguel Ortiz, pastor of La Senda Antigua Pentecostal, which occupies the church -- built in 1853 but whose antecedent structures date from the late 17th century and whose graveyard contains the remains of 66 Revolutionary War soldiers – credited Cole NYC Master Riggers & Steeplejacks with coming to the rescue. “They heard about us on the news and they were looking for us,” said Ortiz, whose congregation -some four years ago – acquired the building, which was battered by Super-storm Sandy in October 2012 and damaged, anew, by a ferocious windstorm earlier this year. After contact was finally made, “we got together to see if they could help us out,” Ortiz said. Chatting with the company’s boss Kenny Cole and learning about the projects the family-owned see CHURCH page
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Security contractor fills BOE seat By Ron Leir Observer Correspondent
board. The board voted 8-0 June 15 to install Granelli in the seat formerly occupied by Daniel KEARNY – Esteves, who was removed The Kearny Board of EduJune 1 for missing three concation has appointed Bryan secutive meetings without Granelli, a private security firm owner whose daughter is good cause. Granelli will serve out the a student in the local school system, to fill a vacancy on the remainder of Esteves’ term
201-460-8000 LYNDHURST OFFICE 761 Ridge Road, Lyndhurst, New Jersey C21Semiao@Century21.com
which runs through Dec. 31, 2014. He has the option of seeking a new 3-year term in the board’s November election. Although Esteves had said, after his displacement, that he would not contest the board’s action, he did end up challenging it, on the grounds that
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the board failed to give him “adequate notice” of the June 1 meeting, although he did show up for it. In a letter to Lindenfelser and copied to state officials, Esteves said he had “good cause” for missing three consecutive meetings due to his see APPOINTEE page
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