The building at 135 Monmouth Street owned by the Red Bank Charter School. (Photo by Brian Donohue. Click to enlarge.)
By BRIAN DONOHUE
The Red Bank Charter School is selling the commercial building on Monmouth Street it purchased seven years ago, apparently scrapping the school’s long-held hopes of building a gym on the site.
The buildings at 133-137 Monmouth Street owned by the Red Bank Charter School. (photo by Brian Donohue)
The 27-year-old school is selling three properties it purchased for $1.7 million in 2017 according to an internet real estate listing.
They include the two-lot 133-137 Monmouth Street complex, home to a building the school had hoped to convert to a gym; and a parking lot across the street at 138 Monmouth, alongside Fins & Feathers pet shop. (see photo below)
The building at 133-137 Monmouth houses the school’s music and STEM classes, which the school says will be returned to the main school building at 58 Oakland Street after the sale. It also houses several tenants, including Red Bank Frameworks and a language school.
“Being sensitive to values of real estate and the precarious position of school funding, now is the time to capitalize on the investment,” reads a QnA dated July 2024 and sent to redbankgreen by Head of School Kristin Martello in response to questions about the sale.
“While we have enjoyed the additional space, it is not necessary to our success,” the July statement reads. “In fact, RBCS operated for over 20 years without that extra space and provided a first rate experience for our students.”
The statement says selling building will allow the school to “leverage our investment to support student needs.”
It’s an about-face for the school whose leaders long touted the “dream” of building a gym and whose backers led a fundraising drive for the project through the Red Bank Charter School Foundation, a charity that funds school programs and facility upgrades.
The school originally eyed the building as part of a wider, controversial plan, to double its legally allowed enrollment to 400, according to the QNA. (Read the full text here: RBCS 135 Monmouth St FAQ.)
That plan drew opposition from residents, parents and members of the Red Bank Borough Board of Education who see the charter school as a financial drain on the district, which includes the Red Bank Primary School and the Red Bank Middle School.
In February 2016, the Charter School expansion application was stunningly rejected by the administration of then-Gov. Chris Christie, long a staunch backer of charter schools. 
Nonetheless, the school, which has relied on outdoor activities and partnerships with local businesses and organizations for physical education programs, continued with its plan to create a gym.
In August 2017, the school received borough planning board approval to convert the commercial building on Monmouth Street, which it was then planning to buy.
The school closed on the three lots for $1.7 million on November 8, 2017, according to a deed filed with Monmouth County. It took out a $1.52 million mortgage in November 2017, Monmouth County property records show.
In January 2020, records show the school secured a $3.75 million mortgage from TD Bank for both the Monmouth Street properties and its main building on Oakland Street. The school owes $3.2 million on the mortgage according to the school’s 2024 Annual Report filed with the NJ Department of Education.
Fundraising for the gym project also continued, with the The Red Bank Charter School Foundation, soliciting online donations for the “RBCS gymnasium initiative” as recently as January 2024. The most recent federal tax forms available, dated Nov. 2023 show the foundation had $31,875 on hand.
In 2021, echoing critics’ charges that the school deprives the district of funds and leads to greater segregation, the Borough Council unanimously passed an ultimately unsuccessful resolution calling for the state to deny the renewal of the school’s operating charter.
The pre-K to grade eight school has 186 students, down slightly from levels that have historically remained closer to its maximum of 200 students.
Meanwhile, the stretch of Monmouth Street where the doomed gym building sits is undergoing huge changes.
Construction began this week on a developer’s plan to build 45 apartments on the site of a former gym and nightclub once owned by Clarence Clemons directly next door to the Charter School property at 121 Monmouth Street. Another project nearing completion directly across the street at 120 Monmouth will be home to a new 32-unit apartment building.
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.
