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Neptune Township Early Childhood Center
Earns 2005 AIA NJ Smart Growth Design Award

Trenton, NJ (December 22, 2005) - The Neptune Township Early Childhood Center - a former light-industrial factory transformed into a state-of-the-art pre-school through the New Jersey Schools Construction Corporation (SCC) building program - has received the 2005 AIA NJ Smart Growth Architecture Award for School Construction Design.

It is the second SCC school facility in Neptune to receive accolades for innovative design.

The AIA NJ award recognizing the SCC's role in promoting Smart Growth was presented at the recent League of Municipalities Conference in Atlantic City by the New Jersey Society of Architects, a chapter of the American Institute of Architects, and the New Jersey Office of Smart Growth under the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (NJDCA).

Also receiving 2005 Smart Growth Awards were Kellenyi Johnson Wagner Architects, which designed the project, the Neptune Board of Education, Neptune Township and NJDCA.

"I congratulate the NJ Schools Construction Corporation, the Neptune Township Board of Education, and the design team from Kellenyi Johnson Wagner for their work on the Neptune Early Childhood Center," said Charles A. Richman, Acting Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs. "With the help of school construction funds and the creative adaptive reuse of an existing industrial warehouse, this partnership has created not just a school, but a facility that will serve as an anchor to the entire community."

The $7.4 million, 46,000-square-foot Early Childhood Center, which opened last year, accommodates 270 three- and four-year-olds. The facility includes 18 classrooms, a Learning Center, multi-purpose room and recreation areas available for community use. Hall Construction built the ECC. Gilbane Building Company managed the project for the SCC.
Multipurpose Room

In keeping with the state's Smart Growth guidelines, SCC relocated the light-industry - Sea Jay Manufacturing, makers of plastic injector molding machinery - to a rehabilitated derelict building across the street - retaining its 17 jobs and township tax ratables.

"The Neptune Township Board of Education is pleased to have been recognized for the process it utilized which has achieved such a wonderfully useful and efficient educational facility. It is appropriate to also recognize and acknowledge the contributions of former Superintendent of Schools Dr. Michael T. Lake who was instrumental in bringing together this effective group of collaborators," said current Superintendent David A. Mooij.
Playground

Peter E. Maricondo, Acting CEO of SCC, "We are proud to receive such recognition for the design of the Early Childhood Center, which furthers the purpose of New Jersey's Smart Growth initiative while meeting both the educational and community needs of our children."

The ECC is on a campus that includes the Neptune Midtown Community School and a proposed urban park by RM Hanna, Landscape Architects and Planners.

The unique design of the Community School has been honored in its own right, receiving the Special Recognition Award from the Council of Educational Facilities Planners, International.

The prestigious Ohio research group KnowledgeWorks Foundation also included the $31 million state-of-the-art midtown facility among its "Schools as Centers of Community Honor Society" after a nationwide search for the ultimate examples of community school development.

The 149,000-square-foot facility - which KnowledgeWorks Foundation called "one of the most interesting schools in the country" - will offer 21st century opportunities in science, math and technology for 700 pre-Kindergarten through 5th grade students and special education classes.

Designed to meet LEED environmental guidelines, the school will be a "textbook" itself. The building will feature Plexiglas sections of floors, walls and ceilings to reveal aspects of mechanical and other inner workings for students to study as part of the curriculum. Its community features include intergenerational tutoring - senior citizens and students working together. It also will be a site for the Cops in Schools Program and a health services center.

The unique aspects of the Community School have drawn praise at presentations in Georgia, Florida, and Edison and Trenton, NJ, much to the satisfaction of SCC and district officials, architects SSP, and the SCC's project management firm, Gilbane Building Company.

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