communityoutreach

A pillar of DMR Architects’ services is our commitment to community outreach.

The exterior of the Montgomery Municipal Center includes an abundance of heavy timber, meant to honor the township's agricultural history.

Montgomery Municipal Center, Fueled by Robust Community Input, Reflects History and Identity

Montgomery Municipal Center, Fueled by Robust Community Input, Reflects History and Identity 789 444 DMR Architects

DMR Architects conceived the design for the new Montgomery Municipal Center to reflect the township’s identity as a close-knit suburban community with deep agricultural roots while providing a state-of-the-art facility that will serve the future needs of the community and administration.

The 62,000 SF building opened last summer delivering offices for Montgomery Township’s police headquarters and administration, a new branch of the Somerset County Library System, and the council chambers arranged around a central common public lobby.

It is unique in not only its design, hearkening back to old barns and farm structures, but also in its purposes and function, with connected spaces for municipal, library and community programs under one roof. The project was borne from a collaborative approach that included input from municipal and county voices, as well as more than 200 residents.

“The new municipal center has been planned to serve as a community gathering place, something that the township has long sought,” said Montgomery Mayor Devra Keenan.  “This is not just a building to us; it is a representation of Montgomery’s collaborative spirit and pride of place.”

The design takes cues from agrarian architecture with contemporary material choices, seen through the gable roof, stone exterior, metal roofing, wood siding, heavy timber canopies and abundance of glass. The result reflected the collective pride of Montgomery’s elected officials and residents so effectively that the building design was incorporated into an updated municipal seal.

“There is a distinct shift in attitudes away from building utilitarian municipal facilities that are seen as a place people ‘have to go to’. Trends are moving toward providing residents with a location that is more welcoming and engaging to the community,” said Kurt Vierheilig, AIA, LEED AP BD+C. “It’s important to a project’s success to work in unison with residents, county and municipal leaders. The spirit of collaboration was strong at all levels and the final product is something we are all proud of and that will be used for many generations.”

Hillsdale Plan Reflects Collaboration Between Residents and Elected Officials

Hillsdale Plan Reflects Collaboration Between Residents and Elected Officials 789 444 DMR Architects

The Hillsdale council recently approved the Patterson Street Redevelopment Plan for the former Waste Management site following over two years of collaboration between the public officials and residents of the community.

The redevelopment plan for the almost 12 acres known as the Patterson Street Redevelopment Plan was written in consultation with DMR Architects and includes a requirement for the developer to provide approximately 5,000 square feet of community space within the project.  The redevelopment plan allows for residential rentals to represent a significant portion of the overall area with 255 residential units of which 20 will be affordable housing.  It also requires a new public park located at the corner of Patterson Street and Piermont Avenue.

“These facilities will provide meaningful gathering spaces for meetings, sports, and recreation, improving everyone’s quality of life as well as increasing their property values,” said Janetta Trochimiuk, Council President. “The redevelopment zone was established in 2019 and encompasses 12 acres of underutilized industrial land at Knickerbocker Ave., Brookside Place, Piermont Ave. and Prospect Place.”

“Resident engagement is a critical component to municipal planning. It provides insights on what the community needs are and how redevelopment of underutilized properties can solve affordable housing requisites and also provide alternative market rate housing,” said Francis Reiner, PP, LLA.  “We are working with municipal leaders throughout New Jersey to create customized protocols for requesting and collecting feedback and refashioning plans that make everyone feel heard.”

A partnership between Claremont Development and March Development of Morristown has been chosen as the developer of the site.

A rendering shows the exterior of the Carteret Junior High School, located on the corner of a main intersection.

Voters Approve Carteret Referendum Projects

Voters Approve Carteret Referendum Projects 789 444 DMR Architects

Voters in Carteret approved a $37 million referendum to fund renovations to each of the district’s facilities, and also construct a new, state-of-the-art Junior High School.

In preparation for the referendum, DMR worked closely with the town and the district to include projects at all schools in the funding, closely adhering to a strict budget to reduce the impact on taxpayers, and to provide schematic design services.

The proposed Junior High School is expected to educate approximately 600 seventh and eighth grade students. Completion of the project will allow for a reassignment and realignment, resulting in the three existing elementary schools serving pre-K-4; the existing middle school serving grades 5 and 6; the new junior high school serving grades 7 and 8; and the existing high school serving grades 9-12. In addition to addressing overcrowding, the construction of the new school will open up space to provide full day kindergarten and additional pre-K programs. The 60,000 SF school will be arranged in a departmentalized environment, with 24 classrooms, enhanced art and music education spaces, a think tank and STEM lab.

Renovations at each of the district’s five existing schools include upgrades to the high school auditorium and bathroom and HVAC and stair tower upgrades at multiple schools. 

Redevelopment Summit Celebrates Milestones and Sets Vision

Redevelopment Summit Celebrates Milestones and Sets Vision 789 444 DMR Architects

Elected Officials and leaders from the public and private sectors including Hackensack’s Mayor John P. LaBrosse, Jr., Deputy Mayor Kathleen Canestrino and representatives from Hekemian & Company Inc., Russo Development, HornRock Properties, Claremont Companies, Heritage Capital, Waypoint Residential, Lighthouse Living, and DMR Architects celebrated Hackensack’s revitalization accomplishments and set a vision for its future at the recent Hackensack Redevelopment Summit.

At the event, hosted by the City of Hackensack and the Performing Arts Center, developers were invited to continue to fulfill the vision outlined in the City of Hackensack’s Downtown Rehabilitation Plan, which includes improvements to transportation alternatives, parks and open spaces, retail, restaurants and biosciences.

“The success of the City’s revitalization efforts is based on the public and private sector’s ability to work together to create a vibrant mixed-use downtown,” Francis Reiner, PP, LLA stated.  “This was an opportunity for the City, and its partners to set new goals and a vision for the next eight to 10 years.”

The transformation of the City of Hackensack, which began in 2012 with the conversion of an underutilized parking lot into the Atlantic Street Park and the construction of adjacent Performing Arts Center, has advanced to include more than 20 redevelopment plans with more than 3,000 residential units with an estimated half billion dollars of private investments within and surrounding the downtown.

The City continues to implement its visions with the conversion of Main Street back to two way, which is set to be completed by the end of summer 2019.  These improvements will include new streetscape to go along with opening of several mixed-use projects on Main Street.

“The ideas that were set forth at the Summit by the City and the developers will help shape the future for the City,” Reiner stated.

Projects like Heritage Capital’s conversion of the former Bank of America Building, Russo Development‘s redevelopment of the former Record Site, HornRock/Russo’s redevelopment of Lot C adjacent to Foschini Park, as well as Claremont Companies’ and Waypoint Residential‘s projects on Main Street represent the next group of developments that are under construction to offer downtown living within the City.

 

Here’s what Bayonne residents are saying about city’s Master Plan

Here’s what Bayonne residents are saying about city’s Master Plan 960 540 DMR Architects

by Corey W. McDonald

BAYONNE — Rarely does a public meeting in the City Hall’s Council Chambers go without minor squabbles, rising tensions, and even full-blown arguments.

Monday’s gathering at City Hall took on a decidedly different tone.

Several dozen residents attended an open public workshop to discuss the draft of the city’s new Master Plan and give their opinions of future development in the Peninsula City.

After a quick synopsis of the plan’s central suggestions, residents broke up into teams to discuss their opinions on the proposal, as well as specific aspects of the city. They then presented their consensus to the rest of the attendees.

A Master Plan is a legal document adopted by a municipality roughly every 10 years that provides long term goals for development, preservation, transportation, and other aspects of the city’s future.

The workshop was headed by Francis Reiner of DMR Architects, the architectural firm hired by the city to design the plan.

The 175-page document, which is available to read on the city’s website, covers practically every facet of the municipality, but the main focus of the plan is development and where it should be prioritized within the city.

Reiner, who along with his team has been working on the plan for more than a year, summarized the proposal’s suggestion to prioritize development in specific areas called “Station Area Plans” near the city’s light rail stations on Eighth, 22nd, 34th and 45th streets.

“The question is how do you encourage appropriate development (and) how do you protect the existing one- and two-family homes from development occurring right next to them,” Reiner said during the workshop.

He added: “The report really talks about focusing development into a few limited areas in Bayonne and no longer having this kind of piecemeal development… What we’re recommending is that there are clearly identified areas where development should occur in Bayonne… So the goal here is to focus development into those zones that are appropriate so that we can preserve the existing residences and neighborhoods.”

After the presentation, workshop attendees broke up into four groups to discuss the plan and to provide their own suggestions, which Reiner and his team will use for a revised draft that the city will post on its website.

Residents discussed a number of aspects of the Station Area Plans, including suggestions on the size of the development zones.

Peter Franco, a resident of the city who was speaking on behalf on one of the groups, said they wanted to reduce the targeted areas of development from one-quarter mile radii surrounding the stations to one-tenth mile radii.

Franco also suggested consolidating Broadway’s shopping district: “If you look at Chicago, they have a mile-long shopping district and they have a lot of people in Chicago; we have a three-mile long shopping district and we have (roughly) 70,000 people, so realistically its just not sustainable. Consolidating that would make sense.”

There were also suggestions regarding the plan’s proposed rubber trolley that would serve to transport pedestrians east and west from the train stations to Avenue A in order to alleviate parking congestion in the city.

“I think everybody recognized the need for the east-west connection but nobody was particularly approving (in our group) of the trolley plan in its current incarnation,” said Laura Wildes, a resident representing one of the groups.

Other groups, however, said the trolley would provide the city with an “old-fashioned” feel.

Groups were also largely in consensus that the plan’s height recommendation for new development projects—eight to 10 stories—was too high, and five to six stories was about right.

Development wasn’t the only aspect on residents’ minds: participants discussed abandoned religious sites in the city, the need for an assisted living facility for seniors, the longevity of PILOTs given to developers, etc.

But all of the groups pointed to the completion of the Hudson River Walkway and the Hackensack River Walkway, as priorities for the city.

The Hudson River Walkway—which in theory would extend from the George Washington Bridge down to First Street of Bayonne—is incomplete largely due to the old industrial sites on Bayonne’s eastern waterfront. But the Hackensack River Waterfront has potential to be completed with no interference. Resident even suggested establishing commerce on the city’s western walkway.

“What we may not get on the east side, we can certainly get on the west side and I think it would be appealing for the community to have,” Franco said.

After writing a revised draft, Reiner and DMR Architects will present it to the city’s planning board and city council to vote.

Reiner said the firm would like to have a final plan for approval by the council by the end of the summer.

This article originally appeared on NJ.com.

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