The project would replace an empty Shrewsbury Avenue office and retail building, as well as the house at far right on Drs. James Parker Boulevard. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

A busy intersection on Shrewsbury Avenue in Red Bank would get 16 apartments and several retail businesses if a development plan up for consideration wins approval.

The project comes with its own underground parking, according to plans filed with the borough.

A rendering of the Shrewsbury Avenue facade of the proposed project, above, and the Drs. Parker side, below, with the parking entrance at right. (Renderings by Michael James Monroe. Click to enlarge.)

Scheduled to be heard by the zoning board next week is a proposal by American Real Estate Opportunity Fund for 16 apartments above 3,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space at 273 Shrewsbury Avenue.

The project would consolidate five lots at the northeast corner of Shrewsbury Avenue and Drs. James Parker into one. Foremost among them is a two-story brick office and retail building that would be razed.

Plans show two floors of apartments above two levels of parking, one underground and one at grade, for 44 vehicles. Entries and exits are via a driveway on the Parker Boulevard side.

Tenants would have use of a rooftop terrace, according to plans.

According to filings, American Real Estate Opportunity Fund is owned by Warren Diamond, a Rumson resident who’s also the CEO of American Self Storage, based in Tinton Falls.

The fund acquired the properties in late 2018 for $1.27 million, according to Monmouth County records.

The project needs a host of variances, starting with one that would allow it to create 16 dwelling units where only four are permitted. Setback and lot coverage waivers are also needed, according to the board agenda.

Here’s the project application: Red Bank 273 Shrewsbury application 101619

Here are the architectural and floor plans: Red Bank 273 Shrewsbury architecturals

The zoning board meets at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, January 2 at borough hall, 90 Monmouth Street. Red Bank zoning board agenda 010220

The project arrives among a wave of proposed and approved multifamily development projects in town.

• As reported this week by redbankgreen, the owner of the Red Bank Corporate Plaza on West Front street has proposed a massive project that would turn the space above Pazzo restaurant and an adjoining parking deck into a nine-story, 150-apartment and parking complex. That plan is scheduled to be heard by the zoning board at its January 16 meeting.

• In May, developers completed a 35-unit luxury apartment project called the Element at long-vacant 55 West Front Street, overlooking Riverside Gardens Park.

• Now under construction between Oakland and Chestnut streets alongside the North Jersey Coast Line is the Rail, a 57-unit apartment building that will sit atop 6,000 square feet of commercial space. That’s a project of Denholtz Properties, which has its headquarters in an adjoining building on Chestnut Street.

• Denholtz also has approvals for a 10-unit luxury townhouse project called Southbank, overlooking the Navesink River from a bluff behind the Monmouth Boat Club. Construction there has not yet begun.

• Earlier this month, the planning board approved what may be the single largest development in borough history: a 210-unit, five story project proposed by Saxum Real Estate on the site of the former VNA headquarters at Riverside Avenue and Bodman Place. Construction is not expected to start for months, and may take two years to complete, according to testimony heard by the board.

• At 24 Mechanic Street, builder Mazin Kalian has resumed work on a 24-unit apartment building. The prior owner abandoned the project shortly after excavating the site.

• Next door to the Red Bank Charter School, developer Michael Salerno has proposed a 59-unit apartment project that would extend from Monmouth Street to Oakland Street. No hearing date has yet been announced.

• Directly across Monmouth Street from that spot, a vacant garage most recently home to a Crossfit gym would be razed to create a 38-unit apartment building with its own parking beneath the apartments. In 2009, the site was approved for a mixed-use project incorporating retail and 12 apartments, but the project was never built.

redbankgreen plans to post details on the latest proposal this week.

• 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. No hearing date has been scheduled.