Nearly 140 years after the Roseville Avenue School opened to students in Newark’s West Ward, major changes could be in store for the building.
The owner of the property, 70 Roseville, LLC, is scheduled to go before the Newark Zoning Board of Adjustment today, November 30, to seek preliminary and final site plan approval with variances in order to convert the former school into 15 apartments.
Today’s hearing is scheduled to begin over Zoom at 6:00 p.m.
Plans from Brick Studios that were submitted to the board show that seven one-bedroom units and eight two-bedroom units would be included in the building. Parking would reportedly not be provided on the premises.
The LLC, which is associated with the Downtown Newark-based Hanini Group, bought the school at 70-78 Roseville Avenue near I-280 nearly four years ago from the Newark Housing Authority, according to sales records.
This is not the first time that the Hanini Group has been linked to a proposed adaptive reuse of a former Newark public school. The development firm previously planned to redevelop the old Maple Avenue School in the South Ward into apartments as well, but a charter school proposal ended up replacing the residential plans.
The Roseville Avenue School and the Maple Avenue School were two out of a dozen schools in the city that were shut down years ago while the State of New Jersey still had control over Newark Public Schools. The shuttered schools were transferred to the Newark Housing Authority and sold off, despite concerns from some parents and other community members.
Note to readers: The dates that applications are scheduled to be heard by the Newark Zoning Board of Adjustment and other commissions are subject to change.
