Wednesday, May 21, 2025
5/21/2025
Community Project Funding/Congressionally Directed Spending - Construction - Project Director: Connor Fox, VP Community Development, Real Estate & Asset Management Contact Phone: (201) 968-0200 ext.7056 Email: Connor.Fox@greaterbergen.org Website: https://www.greaterbergen.org/ Grant funds requested/awarded: $1,500,000 Greater Bergen Community Action, Inc. (GBCA) is renovating and reconfiguring 535 Midland Avenue, Garfield, NJ, a building owned by GBCA, into a community health center for uninsured and underinsured residents of Bergen County, NJ. The CDS funding will be used to improve and reconfigure the interior arrangements of this existing facility. Unity Health Partnership will consist of 16,000 square feet of building on 1.07 acres. Once construction is complete the facility will house: • Bergen Volunteer Medical Initiative (BVMI), a free health center that provides free primary, urgent, preventative and chronic care to low-income, working Bergen County residents, who do not have health insurance. • Community FoodBank of NJ, which will operate a customer choice food pantry. • CBH Care, which will provide mental health services and community-based programming. • The City of Garfield Health Department and Mid-Bergen Regional Health Department, both of which will provide a variety of public health programs and initiatives. • Genoa Healthcare, a full-service pharmacy. The facility will also have two multi-purpose rooms and a demonstration kitchen, which will be available to all the partners and other community groups. The work to be completed is as follows: • Site Work ($550,000) includes all underground utilities including water lines, sewer lines, storm water management including basins. The site work also includes black top, new curbs, and sidewalks. • HVAC ($345,000) includes new high-efficiency rooftop units, duct work, controls, testing and balancing, and distribution. Needle point, bi-polar ionization technology is proposed. • Electrical ($325,000) includes all rough electric work, feeders, distribution panels, LED lighting indoors and outdoors, circuitry, switches, and outlets. • Concrete structural work ($155,000) the construction of a new public ADA entryway including lintils to hold new storefront glass and entry doors. • Masonry construction ($80,000) for a new 100% ADA switchback ramp and entrance. • Ceramic Tile ($45,000) to purchase and install new stone tile in public restrooms. Unity Health Partnership will be constructed with full architectural and engineering plans. GBCA’s own forces will provide construction management, supervised by Connor Fox, Vice President of Community Development, Real Estate & Asset Management. As of this application on May 31, 2022, all the planning, design, and planning board presentation to the City of Garfield have all been completed. There are no federal environmental, nor historic perseveration requirements. The rest of the timeline is as follows: • July 2022 and August 2022 obtaining required permits. • August 2022 demolition of the house at the front of the property; electrical and plumbing work on the Community FoodBank of NJ customer choice pantry. • September 2022 renovation of the CBH Care space. • September 2022 applications submitted to NJ Department of Health for the BVMI clinical space approvals. • Major construction of the raw space begins in October 2022 and concludes in June 2023. The entire project will be completed by June 2023.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).