The former Visiting Nurses Association building at 176 Riverside Avenue. (Photo by Brian Donohue. Click to enlarge.)
By BRIAN DONOHUE
After several years of inaction, work crews have begun demolishing the three-story brick building at Route 35’s northern entrance to Red Bank to make way for the 212-apartment building expected to rise in its place.
The 2.7-acre site adjacent to Cooper’s Bridge includes a parking lot, a small vacant home and 20,000 square foot former Visiting Nurse Association headquarters at 176 Riverside Avenue, where it meets Bodman Place. The VNA moved its headquarters to Holmdel in 2017.
A revised plan for the site was approved by the Borough Planning Board April 2022, more than two years after Summit-based developer Saxum Real Estate obtained original approvals for what will be one of the largest developments the town has ever seen. (see story below)
RED BANK: SAXUM CHANGES APPROVED
The project includes 420 parking spaces, a public plaza and a 10,700 foot co-working office space. Under the borough’s affordable housing plan, the project is slated to include 32 rental units for income-eligible applicants.
A request by Saxum to change the zoning designation from an “area in need of rehabilitation” to an “area in need of redevelopment” under state law was nixed by the borough planning board in 2021.
That designation could have made Saxum’s 3.2-acre site, for which records show the company paid $95,000 in taxes last year, eligible for tax relief in the form of a payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT, agreement. At the time, a borough consultant told the since disbanded borough redevelopment agency, Saxum”need(s) a PILOT from the municipality in order to make the project economically viable.”
Four years later, it appears the project – or at least the demolition – is proceeding without it after all.
The construction timeline remains a mystery, as emails and phone messages left with a Saxum spokesperson by redbankgreen in recent weeks have gone unreturned. The company’s web site includes an animated video and gallery of renderings of the project.
Under its 2019 approvals, Saxum was obliged to join the borough in seeking New Jersey Department of Transportation approval for a traffic signal at Bodman and Riverside, a notoriously difficult intersection for motorists leaving Bodman, and to contribute to its cost.
Borough officials have long pushed for the traffic light, which the DOT has in the past said was “not feasible” and the project can still go ahead without it.
Borough Manager Jim Gant told redbankgreen an application to the DOT for the light is still pending.
redbankgreen editor Brian Donohue may be reached via email at [email protected] or by calling or texting 848-331-8331 or yelling his name loudly as he walks by. Do you value the news coverage provided by redbankgreen? Please become a financial supporter if you haven’t already. Click here to set your own level of monthly or annual contribution.
