Construction Update February 2021

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Progress

Then & Now

What a difference one year makes! We went from grassy fields, a dirt road and sloped ground into the lake to foundations strong enough to hold 10 story buildings, a paved road complete with medians and sidewalks, a railed promenade and an island within Lake Bennet!

Completing Maine Street to Blackwood - from a dirt road to a beautiful paved road with grass medians and sidewalks!

We paved 1,525 ft of roadway, extending Maine St. to Blackwood Ave. This extension provides two exits from City Center West Orange to Colonial Road/S.R. 50 via Blackwood & Bluford Avenues.

Building the lakeshore road - what used to be a wet grassy slope into the lake is now a raised roadway with promenade and island

Building "A-B" foundation - a piece of land with underground utilities now has stone column-supported foundations ready for the parking garage and building! The parking garage, located in the core of the building, is not simply a standard parking garage! It connects to the residential building on all 4 sides up to the 7th floor, where its rooftop becomes the amenity deck, complete with swimming pool! Pure privacy for residents from other buildings and the outside! Dirt has been distributed on top of the foundation pads in order to protect them from any damage.

It's not just a concrete square! Each foundation spot is 50' below the surface, with stone columns below the concrete foundation in order to support the weight of the buildings!

Building "CJ" foundation, lakeshore roadway and island construction. 100,000 cubic yards of dirt were brought in and compressed to strengthen the soil and raise the ground above the 100 year flood mark for both the AB and CJ buildings.

In order to have a Lakeshore roadway, its construction required the lake to be drained and eighteen 20' metal arches to be installed along the lakeshore. Dirt was brought in and compacted to support the roadway. Under the roadway are the arches, a block wall, geogrid, stone filler and pipes to support the railing foundation. Roadway was paved and a walkway to island and railings were installed.

CJ building site - foundation blocks that are supported by stone columns 50' below are now visible where a grassy lot was. These foundation blocks will hold the 10-story building and its 7-story, inner core parking garage. This parking garage connects to residential building on all four sides up to the 7th floor, where the parking garage rooftop hosts the building's 2-acre amenity deck, complete with swimming pool, sand volleyball, outdoor kitchen, clubroom and many more activity-based amenities!

Once a simple lake, now it has a promenade and island! What a landmark change! Building the island: installed a floating barrier while draining the lake. Created the shape of the island with steel sheet piling. Brought in dirt to the lake and compressed it, building up the height of the island. Built a block wall exterior and added a concrete walkway to the island from the mainland. Railings were installed around the island, walkway, and along the promenade.

What's next you ask? The two parking garage drawings are in the works with our Architects. When complete, construction of the parking structures for each building will begin. Both structures will be built as an open parking garage and will become enclosed parking garages when the building walls are installed.

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