30 Oct ESSEX COUNTY EXECUTIVE DIVINCENZO ANNOUNCES PLANS TO CONSTRUCT NEW FACILITY FOR SPECIAL TRANSPORTATION PROGRAM, VOTING MACHINE STORAGE AND WAREHOUSE SPACE IN VERONA
Published on October 30, 2026
Verona, NJ – Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr. announced Friday, October 30th plans to convert a former Verizon maintenance building in Verona into the new headquarters for the Essex County Special Transportation Program, storage for voting machines and warehouse space. The project is part of the County Executive’s ongoing initiative to improve working conditions and provide up-to-date facilities for employees.
“We are always looking at ways to make our offices operate more efficiently and save money. By building this new space for our Special Transportation Program and voting machines storage, we will be able to reduce our spending on outside leases and provide our employees and people who come to do business with the county with modern accommodations and works spaces,” DiVincenzo said.
“We are excited about this building because it saves the County money on renting space and helps preserve the integrity of our election process,” Commissioner President Carlos Pomares said. “Joe takes every part of the County seriously and this facility will help enhance the operations of our Special Transportation and Election offices,” Commissioner Vice President A’Dorian Murray-Thomas said. “It’s always an honor to work with our County Executive on these types of projects. This one will help protect our election process and provide space for Special Transportation,” Commissioner Brendan Gill said. “I share our County Executive’s vision for all of our County facilities to be top notch and to transition from renting spaces to owning them,” Commissioner Len Luciano said.
“Our Special Transportation program is one of the most important services that we provide because it helps seniors continue to live independently. We have been looking for a permanent location and are happy that we will have this,” Citizen Services Director Anibal Ramos said.
“We are looking forward to this space because it means for the first time all of our transportation programs can be operated from the same location,” said Special Transportation Coordinator Mike Vieira, adding that the County’s three transportation programs provide over 300,000 rides annually.
“We are so excited about getting a new building. This will be a definite upgrade over our current rented spaces. Thank you, Joe, for your leadership,” said Patty Spango, Commissioner of Registration and Superintendent of Elections.
“This will be a beautiful and necessary addition that will benefit the community,” said Verona Councilwoman Christine McGrath.
The new, 106,000-square-foot building will be three stories tall and situated toward the back of the property. The first floor will have office space for the Special Transportation Program, space where voting machines can be stored and five loading bays for when voting machines, election materials and other items being warehoused have to be moved. The second floor will have office space for the Commissioner of Registration/Superintendent of Elections staff and storage space for elections materials. The third floor will be general warehouse space. The parking lot in front of the building will be used by Special Transportation buses.
Essex County has been renting three different private locations for parking facilities, offices and warehouses for the Special Transportation Program and voting machine storage. The three locations cost the county about $1.8 million annually in rent.
Comito Associates from Newark was awarded an $805,680 professional services contract to design the building. Dobco, Inc. from Wayne was awarded a publicly bid contract for $34,857,500 to construct the building. The Essex County Department of Public Works will monitor the project to ensure delays are avoided. The project is being funded through the Essex County Capital Budget. The building is scheduled to be opened in the winter of 2027.
Essex County purchased the two-acre property at 39 Commerce Court in Verona for $2 million in August 2025. The property formerly housed a 5,000-square-foot commercial building built in 1970 and utilized by Verizon.
Under DiVincenzo’s leadership, Essex County has retired leases with private landlords and brought county functions back into county-owned spaces. The Essex County Utilities Authority, Essex County Vocational Schools administrative offices and Essex County Superintendent of Education were relocated into the Essex County LeRoy F. Smith, Jr. Public Safety Building and the Family Courts were relocated from a shared building to the new Essex County Wynona Lipman Family Courthouse.
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