The new owners of 3-5 Broad Street also own the Proving Ground in Highlands. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

The new owners of the former home of the Belmonte restaurant and nightclub in downtown Red Bank hope to add rooftop dining when they reopen the long-vacant space.

As reported by redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn in April, Jason Zoracki of Little Silver and Jack Manousos of Hamilton Township, under the name Abracadabra LLC, bought the liquor license held by Red Enterprises, months after the Belmonte went dark. The price was not disclosed.

A subsequent filing with Monmouth County showed that another LLC associated with Manousos also bought the conjoined buildings, at 3-5 Broad, for $1.9 million.

The seller was Danlou Properties, headed by Dan Lynch, who operated the Belmonte, and before that, Red, at the address.

Manousos told redbankgreen at the time that he and his partner, who together opened Proving Ground Waterfront Dining in Highlands last July, had “a concrete plan” for the business but weren’t ready to reveal it.

On Monday night, the partners are scheduled to go before the planning board with a design for rooftop dining atop the two-story portion of the property. The third floor of the adjoining three-story structure, previously used for office space, would be converted to dining space.

The existing restaurant uses in the first and second floors of the buildings would be retained.

The plan would create a need for 33 additional parking spaces, none of which are provided, according to the board agenda.

The board meets at 7 p.m. at borough hall, 90 Monmouth Street.

Two years ago, signs posted in the window of the former Belmonte proclaimed the imminent arrival of a Cuban restaurant called Bodega Cubana. A countdown clock on the restaurant’s website indicated that it would open the following month. But that never happened, and the website has vanished.