The former funeral home targeted for demolition at 240 Shrewsbury Avenue. (Photo by Brian Donohue. Click to enlarge.)
EDITOR’S NOTE: This hearing on this application was adjourned at the request of the applicant shortly before the scheduled meeting time and re-scheduled for the board’s January 15, 2026 meeting.
By BRIAN DONOHUE
The applicant, Incredible Oz LLC, hopes to build a complex of two-bedroom garden apartments at 240 Shrewsbury Avenue between Bank and River Streets. The owners of the LLC are listed on state business documents as Maryellen, Gil and Alex Santopadre of Holmdel.
Plans submitted earlier this year call for five, three-story buildings surrounding an open courtyard. Two of the units would be set aside to fulfill the town’s affordable housing obligations, according to the plans. The complex would have a parking lot with 28 parking spaces.
The project was originally on the agenda for the April 17 meeting of the Zoning Board of Adjustment, but the application was pulled from the agenda and the hearing postponed.
redbankgreen was unable to determine if the plans originally submitted have been changed in any way since the originally scheduled meeting.
The project requires multiple variances from the zoning board because it does not conform to borough zoning ordinances.
You can view the full originally submitted plans here: Architectural Plans
The existing building had for years housed a funeral home. The structure has sat boarded up with an X spray painted on it and no activity for more than a year since a demolition permit was issued by the borough.
In recent years, several attempts to re-develop the property have foundered.
The property was part of a 2021 plan by developer Roger Mumford that called for demolishing the house at 240 Shrewsbury Avenue and one next door, on the corner at 234 Shrewsbury Avenue, to build a four-story structure with 23 apartments.
Zoning board members dubbed it too tall, too dense, and too out of step with where things should be going. Neighbors said it would gentrify a low-income area.
Resistance continued even after Mumford twice reduced the scope of the project, first cutting the number of units to 20, and then lopping off an entire floor.
Mumford abruptly withdrew the application in September 2021 just moments before an expected up-or-down vote by the zoning board, giving opponents a win.
Incredible Oz LLC purchased the three lot parcels in March 2023 for $750,000.
Thursday’s meeting begins at 6:30 pm at Borough Hall, 90 Monmouth Street.
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.
