Monday, November 19, 2007

Oveter's - Ledger - Brown blames bank for relocation delay

Published in the Star-Ledger, Wednesday, November 7, 2007

ESSEX BRIEFS
Bank blamed for delay in relocating business

EAST ORANGE: Nearly 1 1/2 years after a ceremonial ground- breaking was held at a city redevelopment site, developer Oliver Brown says he is still waiting for a new home for his business, Oveter's Construction Inc., to materialize.

About two dozen pieces of construction equipment -- mainly trucks, excavators and bulldozers -- dot the 5-acre site off Glenwood Avenue and Glenwood Place, but only an off-white trailer with a blue trim is housed on the site.

Bank financing is still needed to ensure the new home for the excavation, paving, demolition, site work, concrete and masonry firm business, Brown said yesterday.

"I'm waiting on the bank (financing), Brown said.

Brown said he was hopeful that financing would be in place within the next couple of months.

Brown's long-delayed dream -- outlined during an August 2006 ceremonial groundbreaking at the site -- calls for constructing a 9,000-square-foot, two-story office building, a 4,000-square-foot garage with four bays, and a concrete mixing plant.

Back in 2006, Brown predicted he would be able to relocate his existing businesses from Springdale Avenue in East Orange and Monroe Avenue in Plainfield to the new location by the end of last year.

The site originally was the business home of the N.J. Cement Stone Co., from 1911 to 1951; and then the Multiplex Concrete Co. Inc., from 1951 until the 1990s.

When the former owners stopped paying taxes and liens reached $2.3 million, the city foreclosed on the property.

It eventually turned into an illegal dumping site with hundreds of rubber tires and assorted debris before Brown took over and began cleaning it up.

Online story here.

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About Me

Plainfield resident since 1983. Retired as the city's Public Information Officer in 2006; prior to that Community Programs Coordinator for the Plainfield Public Library. Founding member and past president of: Faith, Bricks & Mortar; Residents Supporting Victorian Plainfield; and PCO (the outreach nonprofit of Grace Episcopal Church). Supporter of the Library, Symphony and Historic Society as well as other community groups, and active in Democratic politics.