An architect’s rendering of the new building proposed for 160 Shrewsbury Avenue. (Rendering by Michael Monroe. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A humble and easily overlooked Red Bank property could become the latest addition to the rapid redevelopment underway along Shrewsbury Avenue.
The proposed new structure would be built on the lot with the yellow house, above, with parking in the rear, as shown in the site plan below. The adjoining parking lot seen in the foreground above is separately owned. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Property owner Bekim Kosovrasti has plans to demolish the existing house at 160 Shrewsbury, at the corner of Earl Street, and replace it with a 7,500-square-foot mixed-use structure, according to documents filed with the borough.
The Manalapan-based building contractor’s plan envisions the construction of a three-story building, at, with commercial uses on the first floor and two apartments on each of the upper stories.
The plan shows nine parking spots behind the Mediterranean-flavored structure on the 150-by-50-foot lot. Sixteen are required.
Kosovrasti’s project is on the planning board’s agenda for Monday night, along with Courtlyn and Russ Crosson’s plan develop a vacant lot alongside their Coffee Corral shop into an expanded version of that business along with a new restaurant, both fronting on Shrewsbury Avenue at Drs. James Parker Boulevard. (See redbankgreen‘s coverage of that plan here.)
A renaissance of building activity along Shrewsbury Avenue in recent years has included the conversion of a longtime furniture store to a booming bodega and the ground-up construction of the new Shrewsbury Avenue Pharmacy with apartments above. Now underway is the conversion of the decades-vacant Anderson Storage site a portion of which fronts on Shrewsbury Avenue, into a Sickles Market Provisions store with offices above. And in recent months, property owners have won approvals to create a new laundromat and apartments; revive the long-vacant former Bayshore Charlie’s seafood store as retail space; and expand the thriving British Cottage antique furnishings store along the strip.
Kosovrasti, who acquired the property a year ago in a sheriff’s sale for $196,000, told redbankgreen he’d initially intended to flip it. But having longed to invest in Red Bank, he decided this was the time and place.
He described the planned apartments as luxury units.
The planning board meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. at borough hall, 90 Monmouth Street.
