Red Tank Brewing owner John Arcara speaking at Wednesday’s council session. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank council voted Wednesday to boost the fees charged to restaurants to maintain tables in parking spaces converted to streateries.
The action followed claims by two business owners that the hike was onerous.
Navigating sidewalks on Broad Street in downtown Red Bank is a bit of a challenge these days.
What’s the latest on the streetscape project that’s been underway since November in the streets northernmost blocks? Read on.
Diners enjoying lunch in the Broadwalk zone in October. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Delayed by street a reconstruction project, Red Bank’s Broadwalk outdoor dining plaza will return this summer, borough officials agreed Wednesday.
The informal consensus of the council was the first indication that the downtown car-free experiment, launched in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, would get a third edition.
Danny Murphy, owner of Danny’s Steakhouse, with the safety guide he prepared for his employees. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Their industry battered over the past three months by the COVID-19 pandemic, Red Bank’s restaurateurs are now scrambling for a toehold on recovery.
With partial reopenings slated to begin Monday, they’re training staff in a host of new hygiene procedures. At the same time, some are also racing to shift operations into two new shopping and dining plazas being created downtown.
John Arcara in the newly completed, 100-seat Red Tank Brewing microbrewery earlier this week. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Two years from dream to reality, Red Tank Brewing is set to open in the heart of Red Bank Thursday night, the start of a new venture for wedding photographers John and Lovina Arcara.
It may also be the start of a fresh wave of craft suds in town.
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.
JJ’s Delicasies, at 21 West Front Street, features a swirling logo on the sidewalk out front, thanks to a projector. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
In this edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn, one of Red Bank’s hot vegan restaurants is building a separate takeout place, while a 24-hour gym, a barber shop and a cryotherapy spa all have plans to set up shop downtown.
Meantime, two businesses — a restaurant and a women’s clothing shop — have opened in recent days.
The plan calls for a craft-beer microbrewery in the former ARC thrift shop space at 77 Monmouth Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
For the second time in recent weeks, a craft beer operation has confirmed plans for a microbrewery in downtown Red Bank.
And according to Google Maps, it’s less than 500 feet away from the first.
Did you see the macho guys in wedding dresses in downtown Red Bank last week? Turns out they’re DJs with an outfit called SCE Events, and they got dolled up for a promo video made by John and Lovina Arcara of John Arcara Photography, with an assist on the gowns from Mustillo’s Bridal Boutique, both based on Broad Street. (Click to enlarge)
John Arcara in the reception area of his spacious new photo studio. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
In retailing, where rents are steep and space is priced by the square foot, every one of them has to count toward the top line.
Or so goes one school of thinking. Another says there needs to be room for atmosphere and mood to stir and stoke the consumerist impulse. For that matter, not every retail tenant has to be selling something tangible.
Wedding and boudoir photographers John and Lovina Arcara have joined a recent resurgence in Red Bank: tenants of primo storefront space selling nothing more than memories.
Lacrosse Unlimited plans to take the space at far right in the building above, formerly tenanted by Hip & Humble Home. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A fast-growing, family-owned chain of stores specializing in gear for lacrosse players plans to open a shop in Red Bank.
David DeSimone, an executive with Lacrosse Unlimited, tells redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn the company has leased the 2,250-square-foot storefront at 58 Broad Street, most recently occupied by Hip & Humble Home, and hopes to be open by early December.
The lease would appear to stabilize a stretch of four adjoining storefronts that has seen more than its share of churn in recent years.
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.
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.