It’s been almost six years since Red Bank sold the former firehouse on White Street to a private developer. More than two years have passed since a start-up brewery announced plans to set up in the space. And yet, the 109-year-old structure remains idle and empty.
What’s Going On Here? You ask, and redbankgreen answers…
A memorial mounted above the door of the former Independent Engine House on Mechanic Street. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
After more than a century of service, a Red Bank firehouse is about find new uses within its red brick walls.
And thanks to a recently razed house in Brooklyn, it will get some additional new — or rather, quite old — brickwork.
The former Independent Engine House on Mechanic Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank could see two nearly identical former firehouses getting makeovers in coming months.
The new owner of the former Independent Engine Company firehouse, at 32 Mechanic Street, is planning to create commercial space in the bay where firetrucks were once parked.
John Cocozza and partners plan to open a craft brewery called Ross Brewing Company in the former Liberty Hose Company firehouse on White Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
In another sign of a possible tsunami of craft beer coming to downtown Red Bank, the former Liberty Hose Company firehouse on White Street has been leased to a startup brewery, the principals said Thursday.
The Independent Engine House on Mechanic Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank ‘s second firehouse auction in two years attracted four times the number of bidders as the first one, but ended at a lower top bid.
David Glassberg of Little Silver was the apparent bid winner of the Independent Engine Company, at 32 Mechanic Street opposite Globe Court.
The Independent Engine House on Mechanic Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
For the second time in little more than two years, Red Bank is looking to unload a firehouse.
On Wednesday night, without discussion, the council unanimously agreed to put the home of the Independent Engine Company, at 32 Mechanic Street opposite Globe Court, up for sealed-bid auction on August 30.
The former Liberty Hose firehouse at 40 White Street in Red Bank won borough zoning board approval last week for conversion to a retail store with two apartments on the second floor, according to planning and zoning director Glenn Carter. The vote was unanimous, with one abstention, he said.
Architect Mike Simpson’s drawings show outdoor dining areas in front of and beside the former firehouse. Below, the building’s interior in 2014. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Already on fire with new restaurants, Red Bank’s downtown dining market could get hotter soon.
The new owners of the former Liberty Hose Company firehouse on White Street hope to convert the 105-year-old building into a restaurant, with two luxury apartments upstairs.
With his brother, Michael, looking on, John Morgan gives borough Administrator Stanley Sickels a deposit for the firehouse purchase. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s former Liberty Hose Company firehouse may soon have the second owner in its 103-year history.
Brothers Michael and John Morgan, owners of several prominent downtown properties, acquired the two-story, red brick structure at an auction that drew no other bidders or onlookers other than redbankgreen Tuesday morning.
Having failed to attract any bids in its first attempt to auction off the former Liberty Hose firehouse on White Street last month, Red Bank will try again on April 29, when the minimum bid will be $400,000 – down from $475,000 at the first try. Bid specs are here. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
No bidders emerged at Tuesday’s auction, conducted by attorney Sean Byrnes, left, and Administrator Stanley Sickels. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A discontinued Red Bank firehouse failed to spark interest at the minimum bid when it went on the block Tuesday morning.
The auction of the former home of the Liberty Hose Company, vacated late last year over needed upgrades that the borough says it cannot afford, was over in five minutes, as no voice bids or sealed bids were made.
Red Bank Administrator Stanley Sickels, at right, leads prospective bidders on a tour of the former Liberty Hose firehouse on White Street in Red Bank Thursday afternoon in advance of an auction the property scheduled for scheduled for Tuesday, March 25, at 10:30 a.m. Minimum bid is $475,000; bidding requirements are here, and the building is being sold “as-in,” Sickels said. For 103 years, the building was home to the Liberty Hose Company, which now shares space with the first aid squad on Spring Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
The auction of a former firehouse on White Street in Red Bank has been rescheduled for Tuesday, March 25, at 10:30 a.m. The original March 18 sale date was changed to meet public notice requirements, borough officials said. Minimum bid is $475,000; bidding requirements are here. For 103 years, the building was home to the Liberty Hose Company, which now shares space with the first aid squad on Spring Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
The former firehouse, on White Street was home to the Liberty Hose Company for 103 years. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Here’s a once-in-a-century real estate opportunity: a Red Bank firehouse is going up on the auction block.
The former home of the Liberty Hose Company, vacated late last year over needed upgrades that the borough says it cannot afford, is to be auctioned off on March 18.
The new apparatus would be stationed at the Independent Engine house, shared with the First Aid Squad on Spring Street at left, and the Westside Hose firehouse on Leighton Avenue. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s volunteer fire department will replace two trucks in the coming year under a plan discussed at last Wednesday’s council workshop session.
“It’s been a long-awaited purchase,” fire Chief Scott Calabrese told the council.
The facade of Nest, at 32 Mechanic Street, the former Independent Engine firehouse. Below, Bottles by Sickles anchors an addition to the former Anderson Storage Building. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Two red brick buildings with deep roots in Red Bank have begun new lives in recent days – with assists from Brooklyn and Seattle.
One is the landmark Anderson Storage Building near the train station, where a wine shop owned by Sickles Market opened Sunday. And the former Independent Engine Company house on Mechanic Street is now home to a retail furniture store.
The long-vacant former home of Fameabilia will get one additional floor instead of two under the approval. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Downtown Red Bank may soon be home to another microbrewery.
Matawan restaurateur Florin Lupu won zoning board approval Thursday night for his plan to build one on Monmouth Street after volunteering to lop one story off a proposed two-story addition.
The building, formerly home to Fameabilia store, has been vacant since October, 2008. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The fate of a microbrewery proposed for a long-vacant storefront in downtown Red Bank appeared cloudy Thursday night.
The hangup? The two floors of apartments the landlord wants to add to the one-story building.
Relief Engine Company retains the second-floor meeting space in its longtime home on Drummond Place. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Making Red Bank history, one of the borough’s six volunteer fire companies is being retired from active duty.
Under a consolidation plan in the works for three years, the Relief Engine Company, stranded for the past two years without a firetruck, will become a keeper of borough firefighting history, Chief Stu Jensen announced Wednesday.
There’s no telling who will make an appearance when the members of Liberty Hose Fire Company return to White Street this Sunday for the annual Red Bank Firefighters (a.k.a. Doc Holiday) Classic Car Show.
They may have been forced to “get out of Dodge” when the borough auctioned off their landmark White Street firehouse back in 2014 — but that hasn’t stopped the members of Red Bank’s Liberty Hose fire company from bringing their Doc Holiday Car Show back to the “Ol’ Car Corral” of the White Stree parking lot each year at this time.
Returning for a 15th annual fantasia of classic chrome, fabulous fins, atom-age accents, polished power plants and bodacious Dagmars, the local tradition otherwise known as the Red Bank Firefighters Car Show (and named unofficially in honor of volunteer responder Robert “Doc” Holiday) takes center stage again this Sunday.
A view of the proposed project, as seen from the opposite side of West Front Street. (Rendering by Rotwein + Blake. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
After several months of dormancy, one of Red Bank’s more hotly disputed land-use proposals is expected to return next week.
The owners of the vacant downtown lot at 55 West Front Street are scheduled to try once again to win approval for a 35-unit apartment building that the zoning board shot down almost a year ago, triggering a series of measures that split the borough council for much of the year.
On the agenda: a change to the ordinance on overnight street parking in winter. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A possible 773-vehicle garage on White Street isn’t the only parking issue on the Red Bank council’s agenda Wednesday night.
At its semimonthly meeting, the governing body is expected to take action on a number of matters that would tweak parking downtown as well as in residential neighborhoods.
The White Street municipal lot is the scene for eye-popping autos of every era at Sunday’s 14th annual Red Bank Firefighters (a.k.a. Doc Holiday) Car Show. (Click to enlarge.)
Their century-old stationhouse at 40 White Street may have been decommissioned and, as reported here on redbankgreen, green-lighted for a retail/residential conversion. But that hasn’t stopped the volunteer firefighters of Red Bank’s Liberty Hose Company from returning to their long-time home turf for an event that’s taken its place among the borough’s most colorful annual traditions: the Red Bank Firefighters Classic Car Show.
The former storefront at 132 Broad Street is the subject of a request for an Asian restaurant called Red Lantern, which needs a parking variance. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
[UPDATE: Borough planning and zoning director Glenn Carter tells us the plan for the former firehouse at 40 White Street has been amended to a proposed retail use, from an earlier request for a restaurant. The original version of this story has been changed to reflect that.]
By JOHN T. WARD
Plans for two restaurants and a retail space the agendas of Red Bank’s planning and zoning board meetings this week.
Councilwoman Linda Schwabenbauer, who heads the finance committee, says there’s been a “severe” drop in revenue from last year along with an increase in expenses. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The first majority-Republican Red Bank budget in a generation is set to make its debut this week, and it comes with a likely tax hike.
While officials are hopeful they can trim the increase, the draft budget shows a 5.5-percent jump in the municipal levy, or roughly $115 a year for the owner of a residential property assessed at the average $354,497, Councilwoman Linda Schwabenbauer tells redbankgreen.
One way to soften the impact, she said, is to extend the hours for which parking fees are collected.