The demolition makes way for 44 new townhouses on the site of a previously crime-infested public housing complex. Watch video
ORANGE -- On Central Place in Orange, homes are of two eras.
There are the pristine, multi-colored townhouses built in the past six years with fresh paint and perfectly shingled roofs. Down the street, a beat-up air conditioner hangs out the window of a decades-old home with a scuffed front door.
The tiny Essex County township's East Ward has undergone a revitalization since 2011, when the modern, mixed-income townhouses began rising on the site of a famously crime-ridden public housing complex built in the 1950s.
As township officials on Thursday began demolition on five vacant properties to expand the new development, residents expressed hopefulness that the 44 apartments planned for the site would continue to transform their neighborhood.
"I think this is a good start," said Jean Christine, as she sat on her porch next to the demolition site. "The street is getting better and better. It takes time."
Drug dealers still linger in the neighborhood, where Christine has lived for 30 years. She said she's too afraid to sit outside her house for long, and she has repeatedly told her daughter she wanted to sell the home and move.
Her daughter, Dennise Lovell, said she's optimistic the township's plan to construct four new residential buildings on Central Place and nearby Parrow Street would ease Christine's concerns.
"I'm so glad that whatever's going on here now, my mother can be at peace," Lovell said.
Although a crew started razing the vacant and abandoned homes Thursday morning, funding for the project remains in question. The township expects to learn mid-month whether it will receive state tax credits it requested to defray the development's $13 million price tag, said Walter McNeil, Jr., the executive director of the Orange Housing Authority.
"Because this is a community project, we are very concerned about the vacant and abandoned properties," he said. "We're taking the risk, we're spending money, to tear these things down so we can ensure the safety of the community overall."
If the New Jersey Housing Mortgage and Finance Agency doesn't award Orange the tax credits, McNeil said the township will re-apply every six months until it gets the funding.
Asked whether Orange would pay for the project if it did not ultimately receive tax credits, McNeil said: "No, no, we've got to keep on applying for the tax credits. In the meantime, we're praying that it works out eventually. Generally speaking, it will. It worked out three times for us."
The new construction of 44 "workplace units" -- affordable housing marketed to working families -- is the fourth stage in the construction of the Dr. Walter G. Alexander Village that is changing the face of the neighborhood. The public housing complex that formerly stood on the site was known for its drug and gang activity, and multiple law enforcement agencies arrested 33 gang members there in 2009.
McNeil said he expects construction on the new buildings to be completed in about 18 months. Some residents likely will have lived in the public housing complex that stood in the neighborhood until 2010, but he said the township now will be pickier about who's accepted as tenants.
"They're working people, and they're people who have an interest in building the neighborhood," McNeil said during a ceremony before the demolition.
Prices for the apartments will vary based on applicants' incomes, which must fall below certain thresholds. A one-bedroom will cost roughly $700 per month, a two-bedroom will be $800 or $900, and a three-bedroom will be $1,100.
The township largely credits the re-development with decreasing lawlessness in the East Ward. Crime has gone down 30 percent since the new townhouses started rising, McNeil said.
"The police didn't event want to come down this street (before)," he said. "It was that bad."
McNeil said some crime may have migrated from the area already under re-development to the part of Central Place where construction is just beginning, but the area is safer than it once was.
The township has installed 64 surveillance cameras in the neighborhood since 2012 and plans to install another 64, McNeil said. An Orange Police substation is housed in one of the new townhouses.
A neighbor who lives across the street from the current demolition site said he hopes the township pays attention to the homes in the area that remain standing, in addition to the properties being torn down. The man, who declined to give his name, said he's worried his home of 60 years may become infested with rats from the demolition.
"There's still a lot of empty property here," he said. "Yes, they say they're gonna clean it up, but we'll see."
To Mildred Harris, who has lived across the street from the demolition site for 23 years, the re-development is "the cat's meow." She's optimistic the new residents will promote a high quality of life in the neighborhood and help it improve.
"As long as I'm here, I'm gonna fight," Harris said.
Marisa Iati may be reached at miati@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @Marisa_Iati or on Facebook here. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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