By Laura D.C. Kolnoski
TINTON FALLS – Trinity Hall, the all-girls Catholic high school at 101 Corregidor Road on the former Fort Monmouth, is planning its second expansion since opening in 2015 in the base’s former Child Development Center.
Plans call for the construction of an 11,620-square-foot two-story academic wing to include a performing arts classroom, a visual arts room, a music room, three classrooms, a college counseling suite with offices and meeting space, restrooms, storage and small group gathering spaces.
Additionally, a 5,718-square-foot expansion of the Commons area is envisioned, including renovations to the existing 4,120-square-foot area to better accommodate assemblies, presentations, faculty collaborations, more lunch seating, and space for school-wide Mass and events.
Details were revealed during the Feb. 21 meeting of the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority (FMERA), which unanimously approved Trinity Hall’s “Phase 3” addition.
The school’s capital investment is expected to be approximately $10 million. Work will commence by Oct. 15, 2024, and be completed by Oct. 15, 2025. The project will create approximately 75 to 100 construction-related temporary jobs and three to five staff/faculty jobs.
Trinity Hall’s 7.4-acre fort site includes a 19,600-square-foot building constructed by the Army in 1996 that also served as a daycare center. After the base closed in 2011, FMERA sold the parcel to Trinity Hall in February 2015. The building was renovated and the school opened for the 2015-’16 school year.
By fall 2017, enrollment was over 200 and the first expansion was undertaken. A two-story addition with a foot- print of 11,230 square feet and a total area of 22,460 square feet was constructed with additional classrooms, office/ administrative space, a multipurpose room, a chapel and a new entrance lobby. Current enrollment is 336. The growing student population was again cited as the reason for the expansion.
Head of School Theresa Kiernan said Trinity Hall’s plans would be presented to the Tinton Falls Planning Board “soon,” the next step in the process. The Two River Times requested but did not receive renderings and funding details.
“We look forward to discussing this project in the near future after the proper approvals are completed,” Kiernan stated in an email. Established in 2012, the independently governed school was originally located in Middletown.
Trinity Hall is the first of Fort Monmouth’s numerous redevelopments to take on a “next generation” project by adding on to its initial renovation, said Sarah Giberson, FMERA director of Real Estate Development. While the school now owns its property, FMERA remains involved administratively.
“As per statute, all new projects are subject to a Redevelopment Agreement with FMERA,” Giberson said. “Until such time as FMERA dissolves, all property that was once a part of Fort Monmouth remains subject to FMERA’s land use rules and reuse plan (and must) go through our Mandatory Conceptual Review process. FMERA does not have a sunset provision, however, the intention is to put ourselves out of business when our mission is complete.”
The article originally appeared in the March 7 –March 13, 2024 print edition of The Two River Times.
