New 5th Police Precinct Takes Shape

Covered in scaffolding and with a brick facade in place, the new 5th police precinct in Newark’s South Ward is on track to be completed sometime this October and on budget at $55 million, according to officials at the Newark Housing Authority (NHA), which is managing the project.

“The construction is going well, though the harsh winter pushed it back a bit,” said Keith D. Kinard, executive director of NHA, about the building at Clinton and Bergen Streets. “It’s an exciting and critical project.”

Grand and monumental in scale, the building’s design calls for sweeping bowed roofs and a large, open portico with expansive glazing so residents can see into the building, encouraging an atmosphere of transparency, according to city officials.

The three-story building will have 75,000 square feet of space once completed with ample meeting spaces, offices, locker rooms, a roll call room, an area for processing arrested individuals, holding cells, a sally port, a press room and a front desk, according to past statements by the architect, Nicholas Netta, of Springfield.

The city’s Office of Emergency Management will also be located at the building, city officials said.

It is supposed to serve the needs of the sprawling precinct, which is one of four in the city. The precinct covers four square miles and has 56,000 residents, according to the police department’s website.

The building is a welcome change from the old precinct building, which has sat at Hunterdon and West Bigelow streets since 1911, according to city officials. At about 20,000 square feet, the needs of the officers and residents have outstripped the building’s space, which used to house both the police and a night court.

The shabby-looking building has no elevators or other handicapped-accessible features and little space for community meetings. It is unclear what the city’s plans are for the former police building.

The new building is being funded by a bond the NHA issued with additional federal grant money of $1.5 million for the city’s Office of Emergency Management, according to city officials.

Ground breaking was in October 2009 with building firm EPIC, which has offices in New Jersey and New York, in charge of the building’s construction, Kinard said.

NHA will own the building and lease it to the city until the bond is completely paid for, Kinard said.

“The city really recognizes our ability to get these type of projects on,” Kinard said. “We get things done on schedule and on budget.”