A 30-foot art wall will be built around an electrical switching station in Newark's West Ward.
The Fairmount section of Newark's West Ward will be home to an electrical switching station that's not going to be an unsightly facility the community feared was coming to its neighborhood.
It's actually going to look good when 14 local and national artists, including six from Newark, beautify a 30-foot wall that will surround the structure at Littleton and Central avenues.
As part of a deal to allow Public Service Electric & Gas to build the facility, the utility also reached an agreement with the city and the Urban League of Essex County to design a wall that would enhance the neighborhood. They made the announcement today during a press conference at the Urban League offices.
Urban League President Vivian Fraser said her agency, which fought PSEG on how the switching station would be constructed, believes the art wall will make the neighborhood look like a gallery.
MORE: Recent Barry Carter columns
"We wanted a wall that didn't look like a wall but we had not imagined that it could be art,'' Fraser said
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said art is important in the transformation of cities and the wall will become a conversation piece after residents complained about having the switching station located in their neighborhood.
"It turned from this ugly kind of switching station that was a threat to people's lives into something beautiful in revitalizing the neighborhood and the community,'' Baraka said.
PSE&G officials say the station has to be built to supply Newark's growing demand for power and it should be completed by 2018.
"We're trying to be a good corporate citizen, a steward of the environment and a supporter of economic development,'' said Rick Thigpen, PSEG's vice president of state governmental affairs. "This community will be better off tomorrow than it is today.''
The lead architect on the project is Adjaye Associates, which designed the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History.
Barry Carter: (973) 836-4925 or bcarter@starledger or nj.com/carter or follow him on Twitter @BarryCarterSL