East Orange School District

Cost: $70 million

Development Team

Owner: East Orange Board of Education, East Orange, N.J.
Architect and Master Planner: The Hillier Group, Princeton, N.J.
Construction Manager: Christa Construction Co., Victor, N.Y.
General Contractor: Prismatic Development Corp., Fairfield, N.J.
Masonry Contractor: GMS Custom Masonry Inc., Paterson, N.J.
Electric Contractor: Tore Electric Co. Inc., Belleville, N.J.

The East Orange School District in New Jersey has been undergoing a major makeover.

After three years of effort, the district completed $70 million worth of construction and renovation work in 2002.

That work, which was designed by Hillier International Inc., included the building of two new early education pre-k and kindergarten facilities, the creation of a new high school out of an old college campus, the conversion of an existing high school into two new elementary schools and ADA compliance in 11 buildings.

This remarkably busy construction/renovation schedule was supervised by Christa Construction Co., based in Victor, N.Y., with Prismatic Development Corp. of Fairfield, N.J., acting as general contractor.

The largest portion of the work was the creation of the new East Orange Campus High School, located on the former campus of Upsala College. The new 240,000-sq.-ft. high school incorporates three existing former college buildings - Beck, Puder and Viking halls. A new 132,000-sq.-ft. four-story addition connects the three older buildings to form a quadrangle. The creation of the new high school, which cost $30 million, also involved the complete renovation of the Purder Hall Science Building along with rehabilitation of the Language Arts and Mathematics Beck Hall.