Essex County Razes Old United Hospital Building In Newark

On Monday, Essex County officials announced that the demolition of the United Hospital complex in Newark is complete.

Crews began tearing down the structures in June and had all the buildings down in five months, according to an Essex County statement.

Currently, crews are in the process of clearing debris and separating metal products from the rubble for recycling.

Tricon Enterprises Inc. from Keyport was awarded a $6.9 million contract to raze the buildings on the former hospital campus.

According to a release, a new school at the location – Essex County Donald M. Payne, Sr. Vocational Technical School Campus - will replace the Essex County Bloomfield Tech Campus and the Essex County North 13th Street Tech Campus in Newark, both of which were opened in 1929.

Construction is scheduled to start in March of 2016, and the school will open in 2018, authorities stated in a release.

“Demolishing the old United Hospital buildings removes a major eyesore that has plagued this neighborhood for the last 25 years,” said Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr. “It’s a major step forward in our project to build a new vocational technical school campus for our students. I am happy about the progress that is being made so quickly and look forward to 2018 when we open this brand new facility.”

“All these old buildings coming down so fast creates a great excitement among our school community for the new building that is coming,” Essex County Vocational Technical School District Superintendent James M. Pedersen said.

Photo courtesy of Essex County