Crane crushes water pipe in Cliffside Park, leaves 2000 without water
George McNish/special to the record
A work crew from United Water attempts to close off a valve to stop the
flow of water on Anderson Avenue in Cliffside Park, where a crane
crushed a water main pipe.
About 2000 borough residents are without water and several other towns have low water pressure after a construction crane crushed an underground water main on Anderson Avenue this morning.
The construction of the Cliffside Park Towne Centre is on Anderson Avenue between Grant and Lawton Avenues.
The crane’s boom had been lowered to the ground for repairs to a sensor, Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco said at a press conference just south of the break this morning. When crews began to raise the boom again around 7:20 a.m., they noticed water coming out of the street.
Authorities have shut down parts of Anderson Avenue as crews make repairs. The crane was part of a project to build a borough town center.
Residents in Cliffside Park, Fort Lee and Englewood Cliffs are experiencing low water pressure, Tedesco said.
United Water spokesman Steve Goudsmith said the company has issued a precautionary boil water advisory for consumptive purposes.
Authorities believe the underground gas main is intact, but have concerns about the electrical lines under the road. PSE&G has shut off utilities to buildings on a stretch of Anderson Avenue around the break. The basements of businesses in the area were flooded. No one was hurt.
Authorities are investigating what caused the incident and if the crane was too heavy for the road. The county will bring an independent expert to see how the crane should be moved, Tedesco said.
“I think logically you could say weight played a factor in the water main breaking,” he said, but added that officials “don’t want to make any assumptions.”
Tedesco did not have a timeline for when repairs would be finished but said water pressure should begin to increase soon.
Fire departments have tankers ready in case there is a fire, he said.
Residents can pick up water at the borough’s recreation center, senior center and fire department.
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Cliffside Park Towne Centre update: 'Should be ready October 2015', says Maer
March 14, 2014
By Stacey Rosenfeld
STAFF WRITER |
Cliffside Park Citizen
CLIFFSIDE PARK - The future Cliffside Park Towne Centre, what is known to many residents as an eyesore on the borough’s Anderson Avenue, should be ready for occupancy in October 2015, according to a recent update provided by borough spokesman, William Maer and the developer, Towne Centre Urban Renewal Company, LLC.
The Borough of Cliffside Park provides an update on the site of the future Cliffside Park Towne Centre. This photo was taken on March 3.
Maer provided the Cliffside Park Citizen with an electronic copy of a March 4 letter from the developer to the borough wherein the status of the project is updated.
The letter states that the removal of a Verizon telephone pole was completed in May 2013.
The developer also states that to date, it has "excavated and removed approximately 50,000 cubic yards of soil and rock. This translates into approximately 3,000 truckloads of material."
The letter explains that there are about 6,000 to 8,000 cubic yards or rock and soil still to be removed in an "on-going process."
The developer emphasizes that, "The rock removal was done without blasting, but frilled and then hammered for removal. Blasting, which is more time efficient was not possible due to the close proximity of older residential buildings, which would have been negatively impacted and damaged."
Towne Centre Urban Renewal Company, LLC also informs that a sewer by pass and pump for the general area surrounding the site has been installed and that piling work was completed on Dec. 9, 2013 with the driving of 270 piles.
The letter states, "Crews daily are forming the walls in the perimeter of the property and installing the pile caps to accept the steel structure. The steel should be delivered within four to five weeks, and continue until completion of the super structure."
The developer also says that the exterior panels of the building are being fabricated and stored on the manufacturer’s site in Virginia. To date, approximately 250 panels have been fabricated and ready for delivery when the steel arrives for erection of the superstructure."
According to the developer, the total steel erection should take seven months and the "anticipated substantial completion and TCO date for occupancy is 18 months."
By email dated March 6, Maer added that the project remains a rental unit, with no subsidized housing. And he states that the commercial units already leased include "a coffee shop, chocolatier, a boutique and two restaurants."
Developer updates progress of Cliffside Park Towne Centre project
April 26, 2013 Last updated: Friday, April 26, 2013, 1:17 AM
By Stacey Rosenfeld
STAFF WRITER |
Cliffside Park Citizen
DANIELLE PARHIZKARAN/staff photographer
James Demetrakis, attorney/developer, took part in a walk-through to show the progress on the construction for the Towne Centre site on Anderson Avenue.
CLIFFSIDE PARK - On an unseasonably cool spring day, attorney/developer, James "Jim" Demetrakis, stood in the middle of what is slated to become the Cliffside Park Towne Centre, to reflect on the progress of the project on April 23.
Shouting above the din caused by the Diamond Bit "hammering and drilling" at the Anderson Avenue site, Demetrakis addressed the seemingly laggard pace of what has become known, to local residents, as "the pit."
Here is a view of the section of the site where they have been breaking through the rock to make room for underground parking.
"I am as excited about this project now, as I ever was," he said. "In order to protect the surrounding area, we have to use this hammer and drilling technique to dig through the solid rock. We cannot take the risk of blasting, given the proximity of the neighboring businesses. The vibrations could have negative effects."
Accompanied on his visit to the site by borough attorney Christos Diktas, Borough Administrator Joe Rutch, Councilman Bernie Fontana and Borough Clerk Sercan Zoklu, Demetrakis explained that the planned underground parking for residents, along with a 190-space municipal lot for public use, make this tedious digging process necessary. He did admit that not all urban projects are subjected to this type of slow-paced excavation, but, explained that both the underground parking and particular rock formation on this site, in conjunction with the proximity of the neighboring properties, make it a necessity.
Demetrakis said that a nearby project he is also developing in Fort Lee, a $1 billion downtown mixed-use project that will include two 47-story residential towers, "is actually a much easier project."
"In Fort Lee, we just build up...we don’t need to dig like we have to here," he said.
Demetrakis indicated that a garage wall has already been installed to hold up Anderson Avenue, and that Grant Avenue, which ran down the center of the site, has been fully cleared. He also said that portions of old pipe have been dug up and will be replaced by completely new utilities.
The developer asserted that work at the site is being completed in quadrants, and that after the excavation is completed in one section, digging in another quadrant will be commenced.
He anticipates that at this pace, complete excavation of the site will be completed in "six to seven months from now."
Demetrakis advised that Skanska Group has been retained for pile driving, which he expects to commence in three weeks.
The developer also explained that the Cliffside Park Towne Centre is to be a "steel and plank" structure, and said it should take six to seven months to erect, with the entirety of the project expected to be completed in 18 months from now.
The Cliffside Park Towne Centre project has been pending for many years now. In 2006, the borough condemned a dozen properties in the heart of Anderson Avenue to make room for the Cliffside Park Towne Centre. Eleven of the properties were commercial buildings on Anderson and Grant avenues, some with tenants living above the stores. One property was a single-family home on Glen Street. Using eminent domain, the borough seized the properties in 2006 for economic development. In 2009, the structures on the site were leveled.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) denied the borough’s application for FHA mortgage insurance in September 2011. The developers ultimately closed on private financing in July 2012.