A plan to remove an exterior staircase and enclose the facade in glass was approved after changes requested by the zoning board. (Click to enlarge)
By SARAH KLEPNER
Another building on Red Bank’s Broad Street will be getting the glass-front treatment, though with less than originally proposed.
Having raised objections to earlier plans that included a fishbowl scenario of wall-to-wall glass for two bedrooms and a living room in a proposed second-floor residence, the zoning board last week approved several variances for a revised set of plans for 7 Broad Street.
The variances allow a mixed retail and residential use, along with construction of a one-story addition out back that won’t be visible from the street.
The new plans call for less glass, but nonetheless represent a dramatic change for the building, which features a distinctive two-story, open-air facade staircase. The stairs are to be removed and the void enclosed in glass.
The new plan also calls for the height of the glass front to be reduced from 50 feet to 19 feet. The windows on the second floor will now be Italianate.
“This fits the period and the surrounding buildings, ” said board member Kevin Moss. Next door is Blue Water Seafood, with a floor-to-ceiling glass facade fronting its first floor.
Light fixtures on the front of the building will protrude over the sidewalk at a height of 13 feet.
“The lights are very nice, ” said board chairwoman Lauren Nicosia.
The revised plans have a smaller parking requirement, reduced from 30 to 19 spaces, because the basement is partially used for storage. Yummy Yummy Good Stuff juice bar occupies the rest of the subterranean space. There was no immediate word on who might lease the main retail space.
The exposed-stair look dates back to the 1970s, and was the work of Red Bank architect Jerome Morley Larson, who also used exterior stairs on the Bluffs, the residential project next door to Riverside Gardens Park on West Front Street.
