Essex County Buys $26M Headquarters For Family Assistance Dept.

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — According to Essex County Freeholder Tyshammie Cooper, the current office of the Essex County Division of Family Assistance and Benefits (DFAB) isn’t exactly the type of place you’d feel at home.

“To be honest, our current location at 18 Rector Street is not as welcoming a space,” Cooper said, praising the DFAB’s upcoming move to a new headquarters. “This is a more warm and welcoming building.”

Earlier this week, Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr. announced that the county purchased an office building complex at 320 and 321 University Avenue in Newark for $26 million. The 150,000 square feet of space – located across the street from the Essex County courthouse – will become the new headquarters for the DFAB, which sees about 13,500 families a month.

The complex at 320-321 University Avenue also includes an underground parking garage, an above ground parking garage and surface parking lot that can accommodate a total of 446 vehicles.

Additional work planned for the new DFAB headquarters includes retrofitted floor layouts, as well as “modernization” of the building’s flooring, HVAC and electrical systems.

Aecom from Clifton received a professional services contract for $650,000 to design the improvements to the building. John O'Hara Company from East Orange was awarded a publicly bid contract for $15,002,802 to perform the construction work.

The offices are scheduled to be opened by July 2020.

According to a statement from Essex officials, the county currently leases office space at 18 Rector Street in Newark for its DFAB offices to the tune of about $6 million a year. Over the years, the county expanded to additional floors as more space was needed, eventually renting the entire building. The county also leases parking spaces in multiple parking lots to provide spaces for employees.

In addition to 18 Rector Street, DFAB offices are located at the Essex County Hall of Records at 465 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Newark and the Essex County One-Stop Center at 50 South Clinton Street in East Orange.

As part of the consolidation, all DFAB offices will move to 320-321 University Avenue with the exception of the call center, which will remain at 50 South Clinton Street, officials said.

“Consolidating our DFAB operations in one location will create a comprehensive and accessible one-stop center for those receiving public assistance,” DiVincenzo said.

“In addition, with the county purchasing the former bank buildings, we will save about $6 million a year in rent previously being paid to lease space at 18 Rector Street,” DiVincenzo said. “This is a win-win for both our customers and employees.”

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