A view of the proposed project as seen looking northwest from Monmouth and Pearl streets. Below, a 2011 view of the property, a onetime Sinclair gas station. (Image by S.O.M.E. Architects. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A dozen years after a never-built project won approval, another developer also hopes to revive an idle Red Bank corner with apartments and stores.
The site, at Monmouth and Pearl streets, is just yards away from two other pending apartment-development proposals.
A rendering showing the proposed Pearl Street garage access, with a green roof for use by tenants. (Image by S.O.M.E. Architects. Click to enlarge.)
At 120 Monmouth Street, Mountainside-based Park Valley Development proposes to construct a 32-unit apartment building above at-grade parking.
The onetime Sinclair gas station, at the intersection’s northwest corner, has in recent years served as home to a skate shop and Crossfit gym, but is now vacant.
Up for review by the zoning board on May 6 is Park Valley’s proposal for an 18,000-square-foot, mixed-use building with 1,300 square feet of retail space and three floors of residences.
The plan calls for a 51-spot parking garage beneath the apartments, accessed via a single driveway, on Pearl Street. An existing driveway on Pearl and another on Monmouth would be removed, according to a traffic study.
The project, first filed with the borough planning office in late 2019, is one of several pandemic-paused development projects in the area.
• Just yards to the north, PRC Group proposes to build 137 apartments and parking in seven new stories atop Pazzo MMX restaurant, at 141 West Front Street.
The zoning board hearing on the proposal is scheduled to resume June 3.
• On the opposite side of Monmouth Street, extending to Oakland Street, is a proposed project by Michael Salerno that would put 59 apartments on an irregularly shaped assemblage of lots extending to Oakland Street alongside the Red Bank Charter School.
A hearing on that plan began in February, 2020, before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but has not yet resumed. In response to an inquiry by redbankgreen about whether he plans to continue the hearing, Salerno said Wednesday that “nothing has been finalized at this time.”
The hearing on the Park Valley plan is slated to begin Thursday, May 6, at 6:30 p.m. The board agenda includes an extensive set of documents. Access and participation details can be found here.
In 2009, architect Anthony Busch Jr. won approval for a mixed-use building with ground-level stores and 12 apartments on two upper floors on the site. But the project went unbuilt.
Park Valley bought the property for $1.43 million in 2018, according to Monmouth County records.
If you value the news coverage provided by redbankgreen, please become a paying member. Click here for details about our new, free newsletter and membership information.
