Bronx residents who frequent St James Park are well aware that the park house is in disrepair. The building, which faces Jerome Avenue, is surrounded by fencing and has not been open to the public since May of 2003.
In the spring of 2003, the Parks Department’s Capital Projects Division hired Pelcrete Construction Company as the general contractor to renovate the building, which was considered to be in desperate condition. TEC Plumbing and Advanced Air Systems were hired as subcontractors to help with the job. The project called for the total rehabilitation of the electrical and plumbing work, and the construction of new bathrooms, which were to be built on the outside of the building so they could be made available to the public when the park house was closed.
However, before work began, Advanced Air Systems defaulted on the job, claiming that the workload was too overwhelming. According to the Parks Department, soon after beginning work on May 13, 2003, both TEC Plumbing and Pelcrete Construction also defaulted on the project.
Since the companies defaulted, no repair work has yet been completed. "We have not been able to do any work on the park house, because we need to rebid the job which will take some time," said John Bachman, chief of Operations for Bronx parks. Bachman said the Parks Department hoped to have the building successfully renovated by June 2005.
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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.