By DANIELLE TEPPER

In recent decades, the white stone building at 73 Broad Street has been a home to many financial service companies: Provident Savings Bank, Prudential Securities, then Wachovia Securities, and most recently, Wells Fargo Bank.

The pattern resumes this spring with the expected arrival of OceanFirst Bank.

With 7,500 square feet of first-floor space currently under construction, the building will become the Monmouth County regional headquarters for the Toms River-based consumer bank, according to Jay Herman, principal of building owner Downtown Investors.

“It will offer the basic services of any retail branch,” said Herman. “Lending, trust, wealth management – but on a more personal level.”

The bank will include an ATM, but also offer the opportunity for an unrushed private meeting.

“Instead of the typical teller’s counter, customers will come in and sit down with an individual banker,” said Herman. “Even if it’s just to deposit ten bucks.”

An upscale décor is expected to reflect this one-on-one banking experience.

“It’s a new concept,” said Herman. “This headquarters looks to be two to three times the size of other OceanFirst retail branches.”

The projected opening is April 1.

OceanFirst, traces its roots back to 1902 and has 24 branches in Ocean, Monmouth and Middlesex counties.

It will take over space vacated in November, 2011 by Wells Fargo Advisors which moved its brokerage office to Lincroft. The basement level of the building has been home since last summer to the Woodhouse Spa.

The second floor, which features expansive windows and a view due west down Monmouth Street, is vacant.

Long known as the Whitfield Building, the structure was built in 1920, according to a Red Bank Register article published in 1936, the year it became home to an Acme supermarket. Sometime around 1950 became part of an expanded J.J. Newberry’s five-and-dime store, according to accounts by local historian Randall Gabrielan.

In posting a profit of $34.7 million in the quarter ended July 31, compared with a prior-year loss of $50.9 million, Hovnanian “recorded double-digit revenue growth and a jump in contracts, the latest sign of improvement in the housing market,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

Bloomberg News called it an “unexpected profit” that was driven also by tax benefits.

From Bloomberg:

Wall Street had been expecting a loss of 14 cents a share, according to the average estimate of 10 analysts in a Bloomberg survey.

Hovnanian has been purchasing land at distressed prices in an attempt to increase profit margins.

The “strategy of opening new, better-located communities is driving sales and generating greater operating leverage,” David Goldberg, an analyst with UBS, said in a note to clients.

Hovnanian had reported net losses in 21 of its last 22 quarters before eking out a $1.8 million profit in the second fiscal quarter of this year, ending in April.

The former home of Love Lane Tuxedos is one of downtown Red Bank’s most persistent large vacancies. (Click to enlarge)

By MIKE BARON

Where’s the love for the old Love Lane building?

The prominent storefront on West Front Street, with its distinctive retro signage, has remained stubbornly vacant for eight years, and the exterior is showing its age.

Now, amid  many signs of resurgence on the block, the address is starting to stand out as an eyesore, neighbors say.

Love Lane Tuxedos, which occupied the property for three decades, relocated to 66 Broad Street in 2004. Frank Cannarozzo of Holmdel bought the structure in June, 2007 for $1.75 million, paying nearly a million dollars more than the seller, 17 Broad Street LLC, paid just three years earlier, Monmouth County records indicate. He also took out a $1.435 million mortgage.

Then the financial crisis hit. An art gallery that was said to be planned for the building never materialized.

Public records show that PNC Bank began foreclosure proceedings on the property in July, 2009, but the status of that action is unclear. A call to Dilworth Paxson LLP, a Cherry Hill law firm representing PNC in the foreclosure process, wasn’t returned.

Attempts to reach Cannarozzo were also unsuccessful.

Sitar Company has a listing on the building now, and it’s being offered for sale at a “price reduced” $850,000. There’s also the option to lease all or part of the 6,200-square-foot structure, which Sitar says has “been gutted and is ready for construction.” The first floor features 3,500 SF and 14-foot ceilings.

The property also comes with “approved plans for renovation and expansion (to 7,100 square feet) for retail use,” according to Sitar, which adds that the addition of a third floor is possible.

But people familiar with the building say it is rife with problems, including termite damage, a dirt-floor basement and a need for costly upgrades to meet fire code and other requirements.

Meanwhile, the Love Lane structure appears more unloved than ever, a drag on a strip of West Front Street that has come back strongly in recent months, with new businesses joining mainstays Front Street Trattoria, Wayne’s Market, Fixx and the Downtown nightclub

Newcomers include Jonathan Erdelyi, a 30-year-old national biking champion who recently rolled out Red Bicycle Studio at 27 West Front, and Lucky Break Billiards and Café, at 14 West Front. In the works is Jr’s West End, the Long Branch late-night hamburger and sandwich restaurant that plans to expand into the former home of Zuleyka’s Kitchen at 17 West Front.

Harry Whittom, a manager at Wayne’s, Love Lane’s neighbor at 21 Front Street, said things are mostly quiet next door.

“You see a couple of people going in and out of there from time to time but not a whole lot of activity,” he said. “My feeling is the building probably needs a lot of work inside.”

Asked what business he’d like to see established in the spot, Whittom was at a loss, noting it was hard to picture any new venture setting up shop given the building’s current state.

“I don’t know what would work there now,” he said. “What we don’t need is another Italian restaurant or jewelry store.”

By JOHN T. WARD

Framed by talk about its positive effects on lunchtime restaurant business, a plan for an office bridge between two downtown buildings won easy approval from the Red Bank zoning board Thursday night.

With no objectors present, the plan by property owner Downtown Investors drew a smattering of questions about window placement and parking, as well as praise by board members.

“I do want to say, another wonderful project by the Hermans,” said member Karen Waldmann, speaking of Downtown Investors principals Jay and Todd Herman.

The father-and-son Hermans presented a plan to join two buildings they own on the south side of Linden Place near Broad Street via the “floating” structure.

The two existing buildings and the addition, which is no mere breezeway but 2,750 square feet of office space as well, will be occupied by the retail brokerage Morgan Stanley. According to Jay Herman, “in terms of production, it will be the third-largest Morgan Stanley office in the northeast,” after New York and Boston.

The board granted the project a parking variance for a 55-space deficiency, though the Hermans said that number was both theoretical and artificially high.

A 2010 change in the formula that the borough uses to calculate the space needs of businesses put the existing buildings at a paper shortage of 69 spaces, even though in reality they have a parking surplus, said Jay Herman.

The additional footage, offset by a new parking area created on the opposite side of Linden Place in recent months, reduces the paper deficiency to 55 cars, though in fact the completed project will have exactly the number of spaces required by actual usage, he said.

After 20 years in town, Morgan Stanley had considered leaving Red Bank, he told the board, because “they have a great need to consolidate buildings.

“The good news is their preference is to be here in Red Bank,” he said.

Construction is slated to begin in early March.

Hovnanian Enterprise reported a $72.7 million loss as revenue fell in latest fiscal quarter. The deficit was worse than Wall Street analysts had anticipated, according to a Bloomberg News report in the New York Times.

The Red Bank-headquartered national homebuilding company reported that revenue fell 20 percent, to $255.1 million, from $318.6 million a year earlier, in the quarter ended April 30. Net orders dropped 17 percent.

Here’s a statement from a company press release:

“On a per community basis, our net contracts, including unconsolidated joint ventures, held steady at 1.9 contracts per community per month throughout the quarter, but were still well below the elevated levels of a year ago that benefited from the federal homebuyer tax credit,” commented Ara K. Hovnanian, Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer. “While the spring selling season has been disappointing, there were a couple of bright spots, including a 28% year-over-year increase in net contracts in May, an increase in our community count during the second quarter and a sequential increase in backlog at April 30, 2011.”

“Importantly, we took additional steps throughout the second quarter to better position our balance sheet and now have only $70 million of debt that matures through the end of fiscal 2014. At the same time, we continue to find appealing land opportunities that meet our investment thresholds. Getting these new communities up and running will allow us to grow our top line and better leverage our general, administrative and interest expenses, moving us ever closer down the path to profitability. Based on our backlog, current sales paces and prices and new community openings, we believe our loss will be less in the next two quarters and that cash flow will improve. We remain confident that we have the liquidity to weather the remainder of this downturn, and will continue to position ourselves in preparation for the inevitable housing recovery,” concluded Mr. Hovnanian.

David Crosby, 56, of Murphy Road in the Port Monmouth section, was arrested at his home by police and agents of the United States Secret Service. They allege that Crosby,  owner of Crosby Site Work and Utility in Port Monmouth, knowingly withheld $17,000 in company contributions to his employee’s IRA funds.

From MTPD press release:

The Middletown Police Department was contacted by the New York Field Office of the United States Department of Labor who informed them of the complaints they had received from employees of the business. Det. Daniel Sullivan conducted a joint investigation with the United States Secret Service and determined that Crosby had withheld approximately $17,000.00 in contributions to his employees IRA funds.

Crosby was arrested at his residence and processed and released on a summons pending a court
appearance.

Here’s some other recent Middletown activity, as provided by the police department:

• On April 11, 2011 at approximately 9:45 pm police responded to Harmony Road in reference to
a report of damage that was done to a residence. Upon arrival police spoke with the victim who
reported that his son had a dispute with another juvenile that ended when a seventeen year old subject
picked up a baseball and threw it through the front window of the residence causing it to break.

Patrolman John Mele conducted an investigation which resulted in the seventeen year old
Middletown juvenile being arrested. The juvenile was transported to police headquarters where he was
charged with Criminal Mischief. He was processed and released to his parents pending a court
appearance.

• On April 11, 2011 at approximately 11:05 pm Patrolman Donald Coates was on patrol in the
area of Highway 35 and Kings Highway when he arrested Andrew Murphy, age 22, from Doranne Lane
in Middletown for Driving While Intoxicated, following a motor vehicle stop. Murphy was charged with
Reckless Driving, Operating an unregistered vehicle, Driving without tail lights, Driving while suspended,
and Operating a vehicle with fictitious license plates, and was processed and released pending a court
appearance.

The Middletown Police Department reports arresting the following subjects on warrants:

•  Christele Beam, age 18, from Kenneth Terrace East in Middletown, arrested by Patrolman Stephen
Greenwood on a warrant issued by the Mount Olive Municipal Court. She was processed and released
after posting $175.00 bail.

• Heather Moyer, from Center Avenue in Keansburg, arrested by Patrolman Joseph Ahlemeyer, on a
Contempt of Court Warrant issued by the Middletown Municipal Court. She was released after posting
$250.00 bail.

• Kathleen Bosko, age 24, from Oregon Avenue in Hazlet, NJ arrested by Patrolman Anthony Dellatacoma
on a Contempt of Court warrant issued by the Middletown Municipal Court. She was processed and
released after posting bail.

Legend Numismatics handled the sale of the coin, a 1943 penny struck from the “wrong” metal, Coin Update says.

From the report:

“The 1943-D bronze cent is the most valuable cent in the world, and it took four years of aggressive negotiations with the coin’s owner until he agreed to sell it,” said Laura Sperber, President of Legend Numismatics.

“The new owner is a prominent Southwestern business executive who’s been collecting since he was a teenager, searching through pocket change looking for rare coins,” explained Sperber. “As a youngster he thought he’d actually found a 1943 copper cent in circulation but it was not authentic. He still has that in his desk drawer, but now he’s the only person to ever assemble a complete set of genuine 1943 bronze cents, one each from the Philadelphia, Denver and San Francisco Mints. He will display that set at FUN along with his 1944 Philadelphia, Denver and San Francisco zinc cents.”

The anonymous collector who formerly owned the coin “donated it to a charitable organization so they could sell it with all of the proceeds going to the charity,” according to Andy Skrabalak of Angel Dee’s Coins and Collectibles in Woodbridge, Virginia who acted as agent on behalf of the former owner.

Homebuilder Hovnanian Enterprises slashed its net loss in its latest fiscal quarter, but still produced more red ink than Wall Street analysts were expecting, according to Bloomberg.

The Red Bank-based company racked up $72.9 million in losses in the period that ended July 31, largely owing to the expiration of a federal tax credit for homebuyers.

A year earlier, Hovnanian reported a net loss of $168.9 million.

Still, the halving of the loss, to 92 cents per share, wasn’t what company trackers were expecting.

Bloomberg reports that average estimate of seven analysts it surveyed was for a loss of 50 cents a share.

Many of the 34 clients Severio admitting bilking were elderly, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s office, which handled the case.

According to the Press, Severio’s lawyer, Mitchell Ansell:

described Severio as a gambling addict and otherwise law-abiding citizen who lost his career and family, and ultimately all the money, due to his addiction.”What fuels him is in no way an excuse for what he did,” Ansell said.

Severio is in treatment for his gambling problem, Ansell said, and has cooperated with the investigation throughout the case.

“He is not trying to hide behind what he did,” Ansell said.

One victim of Severio’s scam, John Choma Sr., also of Fair Haven, spoke at sentencing, and said that Severio was a “friend” who built up trust with his clients before turning on them.

“For many, many years we trusted Steve to do the right thing,” said Choma, a Monmouth County Jail employee for 25 years.

“You’re about to enter a new experience today,” he said to Severio. “I hope your incarceration is merciful to you.”

Wiping tears from his eyes, Severio addressed Choma and several other victims sitting in the courtroom during the sentencing.

“I’m sorry. I know I caused you and your families a lot of pain,” he said. “(I will) do everything I can when I get out to make it whole.”

The misery isn’t over at Red Bank-based national homebuilder Hovnanian Enterprises, despite a brief return to the black two quarters back.

The company reported a net loss of $28.6 million in its second fiscal quarter, which ended April 30,  compared with $118.6 million loss a year earlier.

In its first quarter, the company was profitable for the first time after more than four years of losses. Hovnanian has now lost money in 14 of the last 15 quarters.

From a Reuters report:

Charges on land losing its value were $1.2 million this quarter compared with $310.2 million last year.

But revenue fell to $318.6 million from $398 million as home sales fell 19 percent to 1,118 homes. Housing and the broader economy started to make a tentative climb out of recession last year, but unemployment hovers at around 10 percent.

Despite the dip in revenue, Hovnanian sold more homes than it had projected internally due to the federal homebuyer tax credit, Chief Executive Ara Hovnanian said in a statement.