For several years, a sign reading “Your Future Starts Here” has been posted outside of the New Jersey Army National Guard’s armory in Newark’s Roseville neighborhood. However, the future of the building itself remains uncertain.
A legal notice issued in September by the Lawrence Township-based New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs’ Business Management Bureau referenced plans for a demolition feasibility study project in connection with the armory at 120 Roseville Avenue. The agency is currently seeking bids worth up to $100,000 for design services from licensed architects and engineers for the project, though the notice does not go into further detail regarding what specifically is being proposed.
Located just south of what once was the Roseville Avenue train station, the armory contains one of the four units of the Army National Guard 2nd Battalion’s 113th Infantry, according to the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs website. The other units are based in Jersey City, Woodbridge, and Riverdale, while there are additional armories in municipalities such as Morristown, West Orange, and Woodbury.
The Newark facility, which ranges from two to three stories, is surrounded by fencing and also contains a surface parking lot. The state-owned site has been used for military purposes for well over a century. The official guide to Newark’s 250th anniversary celebration in 1916 mentioned that the property was home to Troops A and C of the First Squadron Calvary while a 1903 report from the United States War Department referred to the Roseville Avenue armory as being used by a captain, lieutenants, sergeants, corporals, trumpeters, artificers, wagoners, cooks, servants, and troopers.
More recently, in addition to being used by the Army National Guard, the site has also been utilized for sporting events, as a testing center for the state’s Civil Service Commission, a training facility for the Newark Fire Department, and by the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.
Bids for the demolition feasibility study project are due by October 30, according to the legal notice. A mandatory project pre-bid meeting was scheduled for October 4.
