K. Hovnanian Homes was one of ten companies receiving awards at NJBIA’s 2007 Awards for Excellence Dinner held at the Pines Manor in Edison on October 16.
“It always gives us great pleasure to recognize the outstanding achievements of our member companies. Each of our winners has a wonderful story that deserves to be told,” said NJBIA President Philip Kirschner.
For nearly two decades, Droyers Point in Jersey City was a vacant, fallow piece of ground that no developer would go near, and for good reason. The 23-acre peninsula jutting into Newark Bay was formed by decades of dumping, and its soil was heavily contaminated with hexavalent chromium, the same chemical that made Erin Brockovich famous in California.
Then K. Hovnanian Homes stepped up to the plate. Having already built residential communities on adjacent, non-contaminated lands, Hovnanian was approached by the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency to take up the Droyers Point challenge.
It wasn’t easy. The company had to excavate more than 21 tons of contaminated soil and dispose of it off-site. With chromium still lurking in soils below groundwater, the company installed a capillary break system, composed of two feet of sand and a 30-millimeter thick polyethylene liner, to keep it from rising to the surface. Hovnanian also installed a slurry wall to prevent groundwater contamination and, just as a precaution, a vapor management system under all townhouses.
All told, the project cost $12 million. But thanks to Hovnanian’s commitment, Droyers Point is host to 380 luxury townhomes and is a major contributor to Jersey City’s economic growth.
Since 1984, NJBIA annually has honored a select group of its members with its Awards for Excellence. The Awards for Excellence winners demonstrate outstanding achievements in one of four categories: Job Creation, Outstanding Employer, Environmental Quality and Public Service. All 23,000 member companies in good standing are eligible to be nominated.
An independent panel of judges, who volunteer their time to conduct the judging, reviewed the nominations. This year’s judging panel included individuals from the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) and the NJBIA policy committees.
Mercadien P.C. Certified Public Accountants of Princeton verified the information supplied by the winning applicants.
With more than 23,000 members, NJBIA is the nation’s largest State-level employer association.
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