Union City High School project nears completion

//September 15, 2009

Facility, now open, is 99 percent finished, architecture firm says.The construction of the new Union City High School is nearing completion, according to the New Jersey-based architecture firm working on the project.

Cliffside Park-based RSC Architects, in partnership with architecture firm HOK New York, designed the new 360,000-square-foot Union City High School, located between 24th and 26th streets on Kennedy Boulevard in the Hudson County city. The educational facility includes 66 classrooms, art and dance studios, photography and broadcast studios, technology labs, a media center, a gymnasium with bleacher seating for 1,800 people, a cafeteria, an outdoor courtyard, and a 900-seat performing arts auditorium, according to RSC.

Union City High School officially opened this week for the new school year, and is about 99 percent complete, according to the firm.

A unique feature of the school is its rooftop athletic facility, which encompasses more than three acres of artificial turf for a regulation-sized high school baseball field, a soccer/football field and a grandstand area for 2,100 spectators, the firm said. The architecture of the athletic complex was designed to resemble the former Roosevelt Stadium, which previously occupied the site.

Several features of the new high schools were designed for use by both students and the local community, according to RSC. The North Hudson Community Action Corp., for example, operates the schoolÂs health screening center and provides services to both students and their families. A new parking garage built nearby will provide parking for the school, as well as nearby residents and business, the firm said. Also, the fields of the athletic facility are available for use by the cityÂs recreational programs during non-school hours, RSC said.

Union City High School is one of six demonstration projects that the former Schools Construction Corporation, now the Schools Development Authority, had conceived and funded, according to Piscataway-based Epic Management, which served as the construction manager for the $178 million project. Other parties involved with the project included the Union City Board of Education, the Union City Redevelopment Authority and Union City-based Summit Redevelopers.

E-mail Evelyn Lee at [email protected]