The two Linden Place buildings above would be connected at the second floor, as seen in the rendering, below. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
One of the Wall Street brokerages that help stock Red Bank’s downtown office population is looking skyward as it plans an expansion.
Morgan Stanley, which occupies nearly all of two adjoining office buildings on Broad Street and Linden Place, wants to connect them at the second-floor level, according to plans on file with the borough.
Plans show a pair of additions, the more striking of which is a second-story of 2,750 square feet spanning the opening to the complex’s parking lot. Cars would pass under the addition to access the lot.
Building owner Downtown Investors also plans to fill-in what’s left of underside parking at one of the structures, 20 Linden. The firm converted some of the ground-level parking to office space about two years ago to meet demand, and now the remaining 4,500 SF will be built out for Morgan Stanley, Downtown principal Jay Herman tells redbankgreen.
Though he didn’t immediately know the number, Herman said Morgan Stanley will boost employment at the complex, making the office the third-largest of in the Northeast for the firm, after New York and Boston.
“They wanted to have one building,” Herman says. “It’s much more efficient for them to be in one building, even though they were already side-by-side and just 50 feet apart.”
To accommodate the cars that the addition is expected to attract, Downtown Investors recently tore down three homes it owned on the north side of Linden Place and plans to create 46 parking spots there, Herman says.
The plans are still under review by the borough engineer, Christine Ballard, and no hearings have yet been scheduled. But Herman says he expects to need only one technical variance.
