A planned expansion of Red Bank’s Count Basie Theatre, seen here in an architect’s rendering, won approval from the borough zoning board last Thursday night, according to a report by the Asbury Park Press.
The $20 million project, announced last October, will create an additional shortfall of 130 parking spaces at the theater, which has no parking facilities of its own. But a parking consultant for the Basie testified that “that there were always at least 250 open parking spaces west of Broad Street, mainly in lots near the train station and in a public parking deck near Pazzo Restaurant on Front Street,” the Press reported, and the board approved variances after Basie CEO Adam Philipson “agreed to advertise the lots on the theater’s website and to have theater staff direct patrons there.”
The Basie also recently entered a deal to rent up to 35 spots in the borough hall parking lot across Monmouth Street from the theater on nights when government meetings don’t conflict with its performances. (Click to enlarge)
