Frances Micklow/The Star-Ledger Construction is underway at the former Walter G project site where new mixed-income town houses are being built in Orange.
ORANGE — Saundra Hill is ready to move back home, back to Parrow Street. She's been eyeing the new townhouses going up in Orange on the former site of a notoriously crime-infested public housing complex that she used to call home.
Now, a new crop of mixed-income townhouses has filled that space. It’s a stark contrast to the high-rise buildings, giving Hill and others a renewed sense of hope for the neighborhood’s future.
The former Dr. Walter G. Alexander Court Public Housing Development wasn’t just a rough neighborhood. Crime was so rampant and living conditions so poor that city officials felt forced to demolish the pair of high-rises.
After months of construction, the first section for senior citizens is scheduled to be completed by the end of the month.
Hill is eager for the low-income family section, the next phase, to start taking applicants. She already has the application paperwork.
"It’s like a new start," Hill said.
Orange is a compact city in the center of Essex County. Crime remains a serious issue, but city officials are determined to tamp down illegal activity at the new complex.
Using federal grants, the police department in October upgraded its computerized crime tracking and set up video surveillance cameras to monitor high-crime areas, according to Director John Rappaport. Also, a specialized street crime unit has been brought back.
The new 150-unit complex has several advantages over the former towers known as Walter G., city officials say. Instead of concentrating poverty, the units will be for mixed-income residents, including seniors, low-income families and market-rate residents.
The three-story townhouses will not have winding stairwells or hallways, which attracted criminal activity in the high-rises, officials said. The old buildings had no security staff and the illegal dealings inside were largely shielded from outside view.
Frances Micklow/The Star-Ledger Construction is underway at the former Walter G project site.
In the 1980s, Walter G., which was run by the Orange Housing Authority, became a hub of drug and gang activity, according to former residents and city leaders. The crack epidemic in the ’90s made the situation worse and many families moved away.
A decade later, in 2009, multiple law enforcement agencies collaborated in a massive crackdown. A nine-month operation ended with the arrests of 33 reputed gang members. And $30,000 worth of drugs, weapons — including an assault rifle and sawed-off shotgun — and $13,000 in cash was seized.
"That was a center for crime," said Mayor Eldridge Hawkins Jr. He remembers campaigning door to door in 2008, walking rat- and roach-infested hallways. "A lot of negativity was emanating from that area of our city."
But it wasn’t always like that. Rebecca Doggett was in high school when her family moved to Walter G. in 1955. The towers had been built a few years earlier.
"To move into this gleaming new building with indoor bathrooms and hot/cold water and beautiful modern kitchens and bathrooms, it was quite a thing," recalled Doggett, who is 70 and now lives in East Orange, near the Orange border.
Even Hill, a single mother who moved out of Walter G. in 2007, recalls the better days.
"It was beautiful growing up there," said Hill, a current Taylor Street resident who grew up in Walter G. from age 9. She moved around town a few times but landed back at Walter G. in the mid-1990s and raised her son Rahim, 15, there, but things had deteriorated, she said.
By December 2010, the buildings were demolished.
The new Walter G. is costing $29 million, said Walter McNeil, executive director of the Orange Housing Authority.
It will be run by a public-private partnership between the Orange Housing Development Corp. and the Alpert Group, a private developer.
Frances Micklow/The Star-Ledger New mixed-income townhouses are being built in Orange where the former Walter G. low-income high-rises once stood. Officials hope that mixed-income townhouses, along with other changes, will attract less crime than the high rises did.
It is being funded with $23.3 million in financing and tax credits from the New Jersey Housing Mortgage and Finance Agency. The rest comes from the housing authority and previous economic stimulus funds, noted Jackson.
A major advantage for the new Walter G. over its previous incarnation is that because it is a public-private partnership, the complex must be profitable, said Patrick Morrissy, executive director of the nonprofit HANDS Inc., which focuses on housing issues. That generally means more attentive management, he said.
There have already been at least 100 applications for 48 senior units, according to Jackson.
During its golden era, youth centers run out of the basements at Walter G. created a sense of community. Kids had a place to go after school and weekend activities were organized.
Doggett is retired but spent years working in housing development and management. The new Walter G, she said, would not merely benefit from a similar community center but should have one.
"Or else five or six years from now those buildings are going to be in trouble. No doubt in my mind," she said.
Morrissy warned, "Walter G. is not the cure-all for the neighborhood. There are still a lot of vacant and troubled houses that need to be dealt with."
But Hill said the prospect of moving to the new Walter G. gives her a sense of hope, a meaningful return to her roots.
"A part of me feels like I’m going to be safe and at peace," she said. "Parrow Street’s my home."
Related coverage:RECOMMENDED • nj .com
What are the cheapest tickets to see Jon Jones’ return at UFC 309 in New York City? Sep. 14, 2024, 7:58 p.m.
No. 6 Freehold Twp blanks Brick Twp for 1st win of season - Girls soccer recap Sep. 16, 2024, 8:25 p.m.
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
Cookie Settings
Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, (updated 8/1/2024) and acknowledgement of our Privacy Policy, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (updated 7/1/2024).
© 2024 Advance Local Media LLC. All rights reserved (About Us).
The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local.
Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site.
YouTube's privacy policy is available here and YouTube's terms of service is available here.
