Pictured left to right at a golf outing: Malanga Construction Co., Inc. Founder Nick Malanga Sr., Treasurer Anthony Malanga, Vice President Anthony Wright and President Nick Malanga Jr.

Malanga Construction Co., Inc.’s renovation of the Saint Cecilia Roman Catholic Church’s interiors in Kearny, New Jersey, included plastering and painting the entire church interior, including this magnificent dome.

Family-owned Malanga Construction Co., Inc. has been building and renovating structures in New Jersey since 1983, with a specialty in restoring religious facilities to their original beauty.

Nicholas Malanga Sr. founded the company, which is now owned and operated by his two sons and son-in-law, President Nicholas Malanga Jr., Treasurer Anthony Malanga and Vice President Anthony Wright. The general contracting firm, based in Fairfield, New Jersey, carries on its namesake’s values, providing high-quality craftsmanship for institutional, commercial, educational and industrial clients throughout New Jersey. It completes everything from sitework and ground-up new construction projects to tenant fit-ups, building additions and interior/exterior renovations. Since a sizable portion of its work entails renovating or restoring historic buildings, the firm also offers demolition and asbestos abatement services.

“We are a very hands-on company,” Anthony (Malanga) says. “We have 10 direct employees and about 50 subcontractors we work with regularly. Instead of hiring a lot of people and creating a big overhead, everyone wears a hundred hats and completes whatever needs to be done to achieve our quality standards and our clients’ budgets and schedules. Nobody is too good to do anything. This driving force is something that my father instilled in us.”

Experts in Restoring Historic Religious Facilities

Malanga Construction takes special pride in providing expert renovation and restoration services in the field of religious facilities. Based on its depth of knowledge and experience, they are recognized as a regional leader in this niche category of services.

“My father started our work in religious facilities,” Anthony says. “He worked on church projects well before founding Malanga Construction and developed his expertise through many years of resolving things on site. Then he passed this incredible amount of knowledge on. We’ve built on that by continuing to do church projects of all types.”

Malanga Construction has worked with leaders of Saint Teresa of Avila Roman Catholic Church in Summit, New Jersey, for nearly two decades.

“They are very cooperative and helpful,” says Sharon Ertz, who was the business manager during the time Malanga Construction completed numerous projects for the parish. “Over the years, when we’ve had some work that needs to be done, we’ve called them in to get their advice. They are always willing to answer our questions.”

Years of experience have helped the company understand that working with religious spaces requires a different level of attention than many other projects. Work at Saint Teresa has included a major project that was completed in two phases: landscaping, drainage, utilities, paving and retaining walls, followed by an entire interior renovation.

“We removed the existing floor, added radiant heating and reconstructed the floor using a custom marble,” Anthony says. “Churches require attention to detail—a higher standard of care and craftsmanship than many other types of buildings. Any schmo can build block walls and put a roof on them and be done. It takes a lot more skill and effort to renovate and reconstruct sacred spaces that feature intricate millwork and custom stonecutting.”

Problem Solving on the Job

Historic renovation and restoration projects are never cut and dried, Anthony notes.

“There are always unanticipated issues that arise,” he says. “That’s why critical thinking and the ability to work things out on site are especially important. Having 35 years of hands-on experience helps you learn how to iron out field issues that don’t show up on drawings. We know how to troubleshoot and make things work the way they were designed to work.”

According to Sharon, Malanga Construction’s experience and expertise set the firm apart from other general contractors.

“When they come across something, we are confident they will know how to address it,” she says. “One little example of this is that when we were renovating Memorial Hall, which is a very old building, we were planning to redo the choir loft. Malanga Construction looked at the structure supporting it and knew it had to be reinforced. They told us right away.”

Blending Old and New

Anthony says that preserving a historic look while modernizing churches can be particularly challenging. This was the case for the major renovation that the firm completed at Sacred Heart Church in Bloomfield, New Jersey. Crews installed a high-efficiency radiant floor heating system, provided custom millwork for the knee walls and confessionals, and plastered and painted the walls and dome-shaped ceiling.

“The Rosa Anatolia marble that was used throughout the interiors had to be imported from Turkey,” Anthony says. “It had a brushed finish that made it less slippery than polished marble and made it look more historic. Some of the marble pieces—especially by the altar—had to be custom-fabricated. Once they arrived at the site, we had to place each piece in exactly the right spot so they all fit together perfectly.”

Ken Dua, owner of Dua Electrical Contracting in Clifton, New Jersey, remembers this project well. His firm installs new main electrical services and subpanels, specialty lighting, dimming systems and fire alarm systems for many Malanga Construction projects.

“There are times when it’s impossible to achieve a vision someone has for a space,” Ken says. “Malanga Construction is the premier expert on building a way around an obstacle to realize the desired result. They care deeply for customers and for creating a beautiful finished product. Part of renovating the Sacred Heart Church in Bloomfield required disassembling an extremely ornate baldacchino and rebuilding it approximately 40 feet away. We were absolutely amazed that they were able to raise it in place, disconnect it from the building structure and relocate it.”

“The Sacred Heart Church project turned out wonderfully and provided a boost for the company,” Anthony says. “It was published in Stone World magazine, which has a worldwide readership, and led to us doing more large church restorations.”

Grand Scale, Minute Details

The exterior restoration that Malanga Construction completed for Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, New Jersey, also required meticulous attention to detail for a project with a grand scale.

“The project included extensive granite work with pavers, walls and stairs as well as new lighting,” Anthony says. “The various stair sets had radius walls, so reconstructing them was complicated,” he explains. “We pulled out the existing granite stones so we could restore them. Some had to be replaced entirely. Then we put the old and new pieces in place just like we were completing a puzzle. Obviously, that took some skill.”

When Expertise and Experience Matter Most

It takes more than skill to be at the receiving end of an emergency call. It takes the ability to efficiently assess dire conditions, then propose an action plan for restoring a cherished landmark.

In the early morning of March 4, 2017, a fatal fire that began in a nearby apartment building quickly spread to and destroyed major parts of the Saints Joseph & Michael Roman Catholic Church in Union City, New Jersey. The church’s iconic steeple had collapsed during the fire, and all of its heavy timber trusses had to be replaced. “We are providing a combination of general contracting and construction management services for this project,” Anthony says. “Every kind of trade imaginable is required: electric, plumbing, heating, masonry, carpentry, concrete, plaster, paint and millwork. Everything. Reinstalling heavy timber trusses at 100 feet in the air is especially difficult.We are working a stone’s throw from New York City and the way the wind whips over there is incredible.”

Balanced Book of Business

“Due to declining enrollment in inner city private schools,” Anthony says, “we have updated and adapted school buildings for use by public education systems. We’ve also done major sitework projects, including installing turf fields, 
utilities, paved areas, retaining walls, a playground and basketball, volleyball and tennis courts at the Catholic Youth Organization’s Boystown Campus in Kearny, New Jersey.”

The firm also has a hand in construction for manufacturing and sports facilities—from completing projects in multiple locations throughout New Jersey for the global pharmaceutical company, F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd., to working at the soccer arena in Harrison, New Jersey, that was built for the New York Red Bulls.

“The Innovation Lab we’ve done for Anheuser-Busch at their Newark brewery was especially interesting,” Anthony says. “It was custom designed and built for a chemical engineer in charge of developing and producing new beer flavors.”

Anthony says “the experience factor” is important for everything they do. However, it especially distinguishes Malanga Construction in the realm of church restorations. “When 70 to 80 percent of your work is churches,” he says, “you develop a level of expertise that is hard to match. If you get a new guy who doesn’t really do churches, he’s going to run into things he might not know how to resolve. For us, it’s second nature.”