Councilman Anibal Ramos Jr. was on hand today for the opening of seven new affordable housing units in the renovated Wright-Clark house on Mount Prospect Avenue in the city’s Forest Hill neighborhood that had been an abandoned and deteriorating eyesore for more than 25 years.

Ramos said redeveloping the Wright-Clark house has been one of his priorities since he was first elected to represent the North Ward on the City Council in 2006. At the time, the home was owned by the city and Ramos pressed the administration of former Mayor Cory Booker to designate the property to RPM Development Group and urged the administration to allocate funding for the project. 

RPM, one of the leading developers of affordable housing in New Jersey, entered into an agreement with Newark in 2013 to restore the home to the Department of the Interior’s Standards for Historic Preservation. The city required original details such as woodworking, windows, and the floor plan of the home to be restored or replicated.

Councilman-at-Large Carlos Gonzalez, Edward Martoglio of RPM Development Group, and North Ward Councilman Anibal Ramos Jr. with tenants who will move into one of the apartments in the restored Wright-Clark home.