NJ buying ex-pickle factory site for P-Tech
By: Joe Mallinconcio
Paterson Press
PATERSON - In an attempt to expand P-Tech High School, the state is buying an Ellison Street property where a pickle factory burned down more than 17 months ago.
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The goal is to add a gymnasium and cafeteria to P-Tech, 200 students must walk across Memorial Drive, a heavily traveled street, for gym and lunch at Passaic count Community College.
..... The Paterson Board of Education last month [08/2024] voted to give its support to the planned purchase of the former Pickle King property by the New Jersey Schools Development Authority, the state agency that builds education facilities in low-income cities.
..... School board Vice President Kenneth Simmons said he made phone calls the day after the March 2023 fire to urge district and state officials to acquire the pickle factory land, which is adjacent to P-Tech.
..... "This way our kids won't have to cross the streets," Simmons said.
..... But it may take a while for the school expansion to be built.
..... A state spokesperson declined to reveal the proposed price for the Pickle King land because the sale has not yet closed. The sale is expected "in the near future," the spokesperson said.
..... The P-Tech expansion is part of the Paterson district's long-term facilities plan the state said. The project would require an unspecified amount of funding form the SDA, money that has not yet been allocated, officials said.
..... Paterson Superintendent Laurie Newell said in response to a reporter's questions that officials have not yet determined whether P-Tech's enrollment would increase as part of the expansion. At present the district does not have a timeline for the proposed P-Tech expansion.