Skip to content

A town square for an unsquare town

redbankgreen

Standing for the vitality of Red Bank, its community, and the fun we have together.

RED BANK: DENHOLTZ BUYS BUILDING & LOT

red-bank-133-broad-street-011822-1-500x332-2500851Denholtz Properties is adding the parking lot at 133 Broad Street to its portfolio, which already includes the office building at 137-139 Broad, at right. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

hot-topic_03-220x138-220x138-7378486A privately owned downtown Red Bank parking lot that all but screams for development is about to get a new owner, redbankgreen has learned: the borough’s busiest builder.red-bank-133-broad-street-011822-4-500x393-7115650Denholtz is buying the parking lot, outlined in red at center above, and the office building at 140-148 Broad Street, in red at left. Below, Steve Denholtz, left, with Mayor Pasquale Menna at the Southbank groundbreaking in October. (Google map, above; photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

red-bank-pasquale-menna-steve-denholtz-100521-1-220x146-4664647

Continuing a buying spree that began in 2016, Denholtz Properties is in the process of acquiring the lot, at 133 Broad Street, along with an office building across the street, company CEO Steve Denholtz told redbankgreen this week.

The firm is under contract to buy both from Schiff Real Property of West Long Branch, he said, with a transfer of title expected in the spring. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

The office building, at 140-148 Broad Street, at the corner of Reckless Place, was the subject of a Historic Preservation Commission approval of a proposed Denholtz exterior makeover earlier this week.

The half-acre, 87-space parking lot abuts 137-139 Broad Street, a one-story office building that the Denholtz firm bought in 2016.

The purchases would position Denholtz as the dominant property owner at the Harding Road/Reckless Place junction that serves as the informal southern border of the downtown.

So, what’s the plan?

“We don’t have plans there yet,” Denholtz said. “We’re going to take this one bite at a time,” advancing the office project before turning attention to the lot, he said.

But he’s open to the possibility of housing on the parking lot site, which he said “is a 100-percent natural for that,” Denholtz said.

“My big thing about Red Bank is it doesn’t have enough downtown residents,” he said. “So we would love to see somebody come in with some multifamily projects.”

Meantime, “we’re going to add some vibrancy to that corner,” he said.

The lot serves the office building, which also has its own parking lot of about 25 spaces, and leases some spaces to Red Bank Catholic High School.

Denholtz told redbankgreen his company has no intention of seeking either “area in need of rehabilitation” or “area in need of redevelopment” status for its holdings. Both are controversial designations that expedite large-scale development, and can come with tax breaks.

“We definitely won’t do it there. I don’t think it’s appropriate,” he said. “It’s just not a site that qualifies, so we have no intention of doing that.”

Regarding the office building, Denholtz expects to clear out tenants for interior renovations, and may relocate his company’s headquarters there.

Tenants include Red Bank RiverCenter, an Arthur Murray Dance Center and an OceanFirst Bank branch slated to close today. A state parole office that was a longterm tenant has already vacated the space.

RiverCenter executive director Glenn Carter told redbankgreen the downtown promotion agency plans to look for alternative space as it nears the end of its lease later this year. Denholtz said he would work with other tenants to make their moves “seamless.”

The prospect of the parking lot being developed scares Ken Schwartz, the 70-year-old art collector who transformed a former warehouse adjoining the lot into Detour Gallery in 2016.

The building, which also serves as his home, experience “crazy scary” shaking during digging for the new sewer line on Broad Street recently, and might not withstand the vibrations from closer construction, let alone the disturbance of an underground garage, if one is built, Schwartz told redbankgreen by email.

“I know Steve Denholtz and he is a good man,” Schwartz said via email, but “Detour Gallery is not the kind of  structure that if damaged can be reproduced or simply repaired. It is nearly 100 years old, held up by gorgeous roof trusses fabricated long ago of old railroad ties.”

Schwartz also expressed concern that development would block public views of the murals and “Men on a Beam” sculpture that adorn the gallery building, which fronts on Clay Street.

Denholtz, founded by Steve Denholtz’s late father in 1954, has industrial and commercial holdings along the east coast of the United States.

In 2016, the firm relocated its headquarters from Matawan to 116 Chestnut Street, where it’s now building the mixed-use Rail project, which calls for 57 apartments, 6,000 square feet of retail space and an interior parking garage alongside the train station.

The company is also building a 10-unit luxury condo project called Southbank, which will overlook the Navesink River from Boat Club Court.

Denholtz is also adding to its holdings at the downtown’s north end, where a panoramic “Broad-to-the-river” development has been envisioned for more than a century. See redbankgreen‘s story here.

If you value the news coverage provided by redbankgreen, please become a financial supporter for as little as $1 per month. Click here to set your own level of monthly or annual contribution.

Remember: Nothing makes a Red Bank friend happier than to hear "I saw you on Red Bank Green!"
redbankgreen Classics
Partyline
BUTTERFLIES LOVE THE WEED
Save the monarch, plant butterfly weed. (photo and text by Partyline contributor Roseann DalPra)  
LANTERNFLY PARTY
An invasive ailanthus tree sprouting in front of the US Post Office on Broad Street is covered with invasive spotted lantern fly nymphs Wedn ...
STREETCORNER SERENADE
An Irish doodle named Cheddar listens to native New Jerseyan, singer/songwriter and former Houston resident Tom Foti, (identified in the hea ...
Red Bank 5K Fun!!!
Red Bank Classic – June 14th, 2025 (photo by Partyline contributor Adam Kaplan)  
RAINBOW OVER RED BANK
Saturday, before and after the storm that rolled through town. (photo by Partyline contributor Thomas Doremus)    
Mini Ballers Bring the Heat at Fusion Basketball School
As the temperatures heat up, so does the competition in the mini baller clinic at Fusion School of Basketball. These little tykes are intens ...
DOZENS OF PLEIN AIR ARTISTS “PAINT RED BANK”
Plein air artists take over town for first ever "Paint Red Bank" event. (click to read)
RED BANK: SIGN ON ICONIC DANNY’S STEAK HOUSE COMES DOWN
The sign hanging from the shuttered Danny's Steak House comes down ten months after a manager reported Danny's Steakhouse would be back "bet ...
FOR YANKEES FANS, GOOD TRASH PICKIN’
A collection of framed photographs of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and other New York Yankees greats was placed curbside along with a ...
RED BANK: NEW HANDICAPPED PARKING, WEST SIDE MEETING PLANNED
New handicapped parking sign West Side advocate had pressed for is installed, with meeting planned to discuss other concerns. (click to read ...
SUNSET AT SUMMER’S START
Crazy sunset clouds shot from Monmouth Boat Club on the Friday evening at the start of Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of summer. ...
SIDEWALK GOES FROM WORST TO FIRST
P (photo by Brian Donohue) What had been, in our estimation – and apparently in the eyes of the several people who have emailed and te ...
RED BANK: PEERING FROM ON HIGH, ACROSS THE DECADES
Roofers on the Azalea Red Bank top off the project in the shadow of a sculpture depicting another generation of construction workers who toi ...
BRICK FACELIFT CONTINUES ON MONMOUTH STREET
A million-dollar brick sidwalk makeover of Monmouth Street in Red Bank continues.
JAY AND SILENT EAGLE
A very loud blue jay squawks at an indiferent bald eagle in a treetop alongside the Swimming River in Red Bank this week. (Partyline photo b ...
PIZZA LOVING SQUIRREL SPOTTED IN RED BANK
Pizza squirrel spotted in Red Bank. (click to read)
GET YOUR MA SOMETHIN’ NICE AT THE RED BANK FARMERS MARKET
It’s a beautiful and sunny Mother’s Day for the first instance of the farmer’s market, held every Sunday, beginning in May ...
SIGN? WHAT SIGN?
Folks in Red Bank Wednesday exercising their riparian rights to access tidal waters first encoded into Roman law in 500 AD and later adopted ...
FANTASTIC MR. FOX
Partyline contributor captures photo of backyard fox.
STRIPER RUN AT MARINE PARK
An angler pulls in a striped bass from the Marine Park bulkhead Tuesday evening. (photo by Partyline contributor Boris Kofman)