FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Anthony Puglisi s10

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Anthony Puglisi

September 21, 2011 973-621-2542

Lauren Shears

973-621- 1590

ESSEX COUNTY EXECUTIVE DIVINCENZO ANNOUNCES PROJECT TO CREATE ‘GREEN ROOF’ ON ESSEX COUNTY LEROY SMITH BUILDING IS COMPLETED

Second Floor Roof is Transformed into Seating Area

with Trees, Grasses and Flowers

Newark, NJ – Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr. announced the opening of a “green roof” on the second floor of the Essex County LeRoy F. Smith, Jr. Public Safety Building on Wednesday, September 21st. The roof provides jurors, visitors and employees with a picturesque seating area to have lunch or take a break overlooking the Essex County Veterans Memorial Park.

“When we transformed our old jail facility for use as office space, we wanted to include some unique features to make the environment of the building more welcoming to visitors and employees. Instead of leaving the roof unused, the space was transformed into a seating area that has a perfect view overlooking our new Veterans Memorial Park,” DiVincenzo said. “I invite our visitors, jurors and employees to spend their lunch break on our green roof and see how beautifully our complex has been improved,” he added.

Joining the County Executive at the ribbon cutting were Freeholders Patricia Sebold and Bilal Beasley, Essex County Utilities Authority Executive Director Elmer Hermann and Enid Pipitone from the Essex County Executive Superintendent’s Office.

When the 13-story building was used as a jail, the roof over the first floor was not accessible and the space was unused. When it was decided to transform the building into office space, a portion of the second floor was earmarked as a cafeteria. DiVincenzo pointed out the potential of using the roof for outdoor seating and integrating the space with the adjacent Veterans Memorial Park. The green roof has six tables with seating for 24. The area is “landscaped” with planter boxes of small trees, natural grasses and flowers. The concrete wall of the roof has been replaced with a glass wall to maximize the view of the park. The vegetation on the roof is not only aesthetically pleasing, but it helps reduce water runoff from the roof and naturally cools the roof.

A landscaping design for the green roof was designed by Barretto Dowd from Howell and Greg Comito and Associates from Newark under existing professional contracts. Let It Grow, Inc. from River Edge, NJ, was awarded a competitively bid contract for $298,000 to perform the construction work. Funding was provided through the County’s Capital Budget.

Redeveloping the Essex County LeRoy F. Smith, Jr. Public Safety Building

The LeRoy F. Smith Building was dedicated in June 2008 and named after LeRoy F. Smith, Jr., who served as Associate Director of Emergency Medical Services at UMDNJ for 38 years before he retired in 2007. The structure was originally built in 1970 and had previously been used as the Essex County Jail. It was closed in March 2004 when the County opened its state-of-the-art Essex County Correctional Facility on Doremus Avenue in Newark.

Work to redevelop the building for office space began in 2008. The concept was to create an office building to where Essex County offices and agencies that had been paying for private office space could be relocated. In addition, space was made available to several State agencies, which provide recurring revenue to Essex County through the rent they pay. Tenants of the building include the following: Essex County Vocational Technical School District administrative offices, Judges’ Chambers for the New Jersey Appellate Court, Essex County Executive Superintendent of Schools, Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, NJ Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness, Essex County Sheriff’s Office, Essex County Utilities Authority, District Office of Congressman Donald Payne, and record storage. Centralizing the offices and renting office space in the Leroy Smith Building and is anticipated to create about $1.7 million in rental savings or new, recurring revenue for Essex County.