East Orange Officials Halt Demolition Of Church, Ownership ‘Unclear’

EAST ORANGE, NJ — The City of East Orange issued a stop work order for construction on a local church after learning that ownership of the property is “unclear,” officials announced Monday.

According to city officials, the back of the Temple of Unified Christians Brick Church at 7 Prospect Street was partially torn down by Zuccaro Construction on behalf of New Brick Church LLC on April 17.

East Orange municipal officials issued a stop work order when they learned that the actual ownership of the church is unclear, authorities said.

“It is now up to the Superior Court of Essex County to determine the rightful owner, and until then, all plans to complete the demolition have ceased,” officials said.

An injunction hearing was scheduled for Monday.

“We have heard from many of you and your concern about the demolition of this city landmark, however, we cannot move forward until the issue of ownership has been decided,” officials said. “Once resolved, the City of East Orange will work with the owner to address the community’s concerns and the future of the historic Brick Church.”

The city’s announcement inspired a debate on social media about whether the church should be demolished or not.

“Stop tearing down the city landmarks,” one person commented.

“But these abandoned properties make our city look bad,” another person responded. “When you look good, you feel good and you do good. Some tear down and build up might be just what the city needs. We can have a reputation just as good as these middle to upper class neighborhoods and to do so a little clean up is needed.”

“If they no longer serve a purpose, it should come down,” the first person countered.

Other comments seen online included:

• “They cannot tear this down out of all things in East Orange. This is a well known landmark and a very old building, at least take the church renovate it and make a place for the kids to do activities and stuff.”
• “Why are we fighting to keep an old church … we have enough of them in the city already. I'm sure our tax dollars would be better spent on fixing the roads and adding shelters to bus stops that help ppl get to work and pay taxes. We need to be a progressive city making room for the new not holding on to the old.”
• “Stop throwing everything down to build apartments building. We need program centers for the kids have something to do after school and during the summer.”
• “There is no going forward until you realized where you've been. What do you call progress, another fast food place. It would be nice to see the church saved remodeled turned into an historical site or maybe a museum, but that would take someone wealthy or a financial group to invest.”
• “If they aren’t using it and it’s just sitting there taking up space I don’t see the problem with knocking it down … But hey it is what it is.”
• “They need to hurry and decide what to do with it since I lived in east orange it’s been abandoned! It’s a sore eye. Either fix it so people can have a house to worship or use it as a museum of some sort of history for East Orange dragging it out is ridiculous. Just my opinion.”

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