Hamilton Stage flood fix stalls again
A contractor's withdrawal leaves years-long repairs unfinished, and raises new questions about flood risk at the city's planned amphitheater site nearby.
Hamilton Stage on Hamilton Street in Rahway has been undergoing repairs since flooding during Hurricane Ida in 2021. (Source)
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Chris Howell | August 3, 2026
The Union County Performing Arts Center’s Hamilton Stage has been waiting years for a fix to keep it from flooding again. On Monday, the City Council will consider a resolution acknowledging the latest setback.
The contractor awarded the flood-hardening construction contract in April is refusing to sign it.
Hamilton Stage, located at 360 Hamilton Street, suffered significant water damage during Hurricane Ida in September 2021.
The city hired H2M Associates in 2023 to study flood mitigation options for the building. That study was completed in February 2024. It led to a second contract with H2M that November, worth $93,700, to design specific flood mitigation measures. Those measures include waterproofing exterior walls, installing watertight doors and windows, and building new flood walls at two building entrances.
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The city first advertised for construction bids on the project earlier this year. No bids came in.
The city re-advertised on March 2. Two bids arrived, from Ochoa Enterprises and Practical LLC. The council awarded the contract to Ochoa on April 6. Ochoa’s bid, the lower of the two, was $415,126.
Four days later, Ochoa notified the city it wanted to back out. The company cited what it called an estimating oversight.
Monday’s resolution rejects that withdrawal as invalid. It authorizes the city to claim Ochoa’s $20,000 bid bond. It also declines to award the contract to Practical LLC instead, because that bid substantially exceeds the project’s budget. The city plans to negotiate a new contract directly, under a specific exception in state public contracts law.
Hamilton Stage sits in Rahway’s Arts District, near the Union County Performing Arts Center’s Main Stage. Robinsons Branch, a tributary of the Rahway River, runs through the area.
According to FEMA flood maps, portions of the Hamilton Stage property fall within a federally designated flood hazard area.
The Rahway Redevelopment Agency is separately working to acquire two nearby properties, at 277 and 309 Hamilton Street, for $2.57 million. The site is intended for the proposed James Kennedy Amphitheater. Portions of that site also fall within a FEMA flood hazard area, according to the same maps.
The Central Jerseyan reached out to Business Administrator Matthew Pukavich, Redevelopment Agency Executive Director Robert Landolfi, and Council President Jeffrey Brooks with questions ahead of Monday’s meeting.
Those questions include why the city, rather than the Union County Performing Arts Center or Union County itself, is funding the study, design, and construction costs at Hamilton Stage. They also include whether any flood risk assessment has been done specifically for the amphitheater site, and what flood mitigation measures, if any, are planned there.
The council meets Monday at 7 p.m. at City Hall.
Editor’s note: The Central Jerseyan is free to read and supported by advertising. If you value this kind of local reporting and want to help sustain it, you can become a citizen supporter on Patreon. Your contribution helps fund continued coverage of local government, schools, and community issues.