A rendering of the Monmouth Street side of the project proposed by Michael Salerno. (Rendering by SOME Architects. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Sixty-nine new apartments would be built on the edge of downtown Red Bank if two projects pending before the planning and zoning boards  win approval.

One would replace a building that holds a place in rock ‘n roll history as the home of Big Man’s West, a club owned by late saxophonist Clarence Clemons.

A 10-unit apartment building, shown below, would replace the Victorian structure at 63 Riverside Avenue, above. (Photo by John T. Ward; renderings by SOME Architects and Phillip J. Bowers & Company. Click to enlarge.)

• Michael Salerno, who owns the office building at 121 Monmouth Street through a limited liability company, plans to knock down that structure and several others on Monmouth, Pearl and Oakland streets for his nameless 59-unit project.

Among the buildings to be demolished is 129 Monmouth, a long-vacant address that Clemons, then the sax player with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, turned into a rock mecca in the early 1980s. [See related story.]

Salerno’s plan, filed with the borough September 23, would put 59 rental units and 2,000 square feet of commercial “incubator” space on several lots extending from Monmouth to Oakland streets between the Red Bank Charter School and Pearl Street.

The site does not include the building at the southwest corner of Monmouth and Pearl that now houses the Pearl Street Consignment and Custom Clothes and an adjoining laundromat. It also excludes 40-42 Oakland Street, a two-family house just east of the school.

As a result, the combined sites created an irregular shape with two portions abutting for just 24 feet.

The portion with the largest frontage, on Monmouth Street, would see construction of a five-story building with 52 units just steps from the Count Basie Center for the Arts. The units would range from “studio/efficiency” apartments up to two-bedrooms, the application says.

A seven-unit, two-and-a-half story building would replace a house at the northwest corner of Oakland and Pearl streets, according to the filing.

Nine of the units would be set aside as affordable under state guidelines, according to the plan.

Significantly, given the proximity of the Basie, Salerno’s plan also calls for 97 parking onsite spaces, on two levels, one of them underground, including 8 for commercial users.

The properties are all in the BR-1 and BR-2 business-residential zones, which permit multifamily housing.

The project needs zoning board approvals. No hearing date has yet been set.

Here’s the application: 121 Monmouth Street 13489 Denial

• At the corner of Riverside Avenue and Allen Place, Philip J. Bowers & Company plans to raze two houses to create a new 10-unit apartment building, depicted in a the rendering at right.

One of the structures to be demolished is a Victorian former residence that serves as the home to the Marks & Klein law firm and other tenants at 63 Riverside Avenue. The other is a two-family home on the abutting property on Allen Place. Garages on Riverside Avenue would also be razed.

Bowers’ plan calls for four two-bedroom and six one-bedroom apartments “with parking and partial basements,” according the September 25 application filed with the borough.

The project needs an OK from the planning board, which has not yet scheduled a hearing. The properties are all in the BR-1 zone.

Headed by John Bowers, the company owns the Shrewsbury Manor apartments on the opposite side of the Riverside Avenue and numerous commercial properties in town, including the City Centre strip mall at West Front Street and Maple Avenue.

Here’s the application: Riverside Avenue and Allen Place 13492 Denial