RED BANK: WILL LONG-CLOSED ‘VAULT’ OPEN?
After seven years of vacancy, the former Smith Barney building at 55 Broad Street in Red Bank had apparently just landed a new tenant. And then: COVID-19.
RED BANK: DEP EXPANDS GARDEN SOIL TESTS
The Red Bank community garden, which the borough abruptly shut down last August over concern about possible soil contamination, is on the agenda for Wednesday night’s council meeting.
What’s Going On Here? Read on.
RED BANK: RIVERCENTER TAPS KIRKPATRICK
Laura Kirkpatrick addressing the Red Bank council Wednesday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Laura Kirkpatrick has been named executive director of Red Bank RiverCenter, the semi-autonomous agency that manages the borough’s special improvement district.
RED BANK: BRAKES TAPPED ON METERING PLAN
RiverCenter asked that enforcement of any changes to the parking ordinance be postponed until completion of planned streetscape work on White Street and the adjoining lot. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Facing pushback, Red Bank officials on Wednesday slowed a proposal to extend paid parking to 10 p.m.
The plan, first reported by redbankgreen, drew numerous critical comments on Facebook, which several council members alluded to at Wednesday night’s council workshop session.
RED BANK: EXTENDED METERING ON AGENDA
Adding four hours a day of paid parking is among the recommendations of a recent report. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s elected officials are expected to take up a proposal this week to expand paid parking – and enforcement – to 10 p.m.
RED BANK: WORK BEGINS AT RIVERMARK SITE
Work was underway on at least one of two long-vacant buildings abutting the Red Bank Public Library Monday. (Photo by Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge.)
What’s Going On Here? Read on.
RED BANK: HOMEWARES SHOP MOVES RIGHT IN
City Barn/Country Penthouse has opened for business at 19 Monmouth Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Commercial real estate deals rarely happen as quickly as the one that led to Friday’s opening of a new homewares store in downtown Red Bank.
Read all about here in redbankgreen‘s latest edition of Retail Churn.
RED BANK: SNACK BAR, SCREENS ON AGENDA
The council won’t renew the lease on the snack stand at Riverside Gardens Park under a measure on Wednesday’s agenda. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
After several years as a seasonal commercial operation, the concession stand in Red Bank’s Riverside Gardens Park has proven to be a fiscal dud.
So suggests a proposal to nix an extension of the soon-to-expire lease on the building. That, along with an ordinance tightening up the property maintenance law governing lawns and window screens, is among the items of interest up for consider at for the council’s regular session Wednesday.
Here’s a quick rundown.
RED BANK: SICKLES, BOOSKERDOO SET DATE
After sitting vacant for decades, the former Red Bank warehouse known as the Anderson Storage Building is beginning to fill up with tenants. And perhaps the two most anticipated are finally set to open for business in April, they say.
What’s Going On Here? Read on.
RED BANK: FIREHOUSE GETS MORE TIME
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…
RED BANK: HOBBYMASTERS CLOSING
Hobbymasters, a gamers’ paradise for four decades in downtown Red Bank, is calling it quits.
What’s Going On Here? Read on.
RED BANK: BREEZEWAY TO A ‘RETREAT’
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A sizable structure has begun rising at the corner of Worthley Place and Marion Street in Red Bank, on the site of a crumbling old house.
What’s Going On Here? Click ‘read more’ for the answer. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
RED BANK: BOARD SUED OVER TWO DECISIONS
The owners of the Colony House apartments, at right, claim the plan for the VNA site, at left, violates their property rights. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Two months after approving one of the largest development projects in Red Bank history, the borough planning board has been sued over the decision, redbankgreen has learned.
The suit arrives as the board is defending itself in a lawsuit concerning a proposed Hampton Inn just across the street.
RED BANK: BRUNCH, AND MORE, IN CHURN
Brunch opened last week at 20 Broad Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Eaters have a fresh new option for breakfast and lunch in downtown Red Bank.
Read all about chef Ray Tutella’s venture and other business comings and goings in this edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn.
RED BANK: APARTMENT REVIEW BEGINS
An elevation showing the Monmouth Street side of the proposed Salerno project. (Rendering by SOME Architects. Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
[UPDATE: The February 20 hearing for this project has been rescheduled at applicant’s request. No new date yet.]
By JOHN T. WARD
A proposed 59-unit apartment project should be allowed to exceed Red Bank’s height and density limits based on the objectives of the borough’s master plan, its architect testified Thursday night.
RED BANK: APARTMENT PLAN UP FOR REVIEW
A rendering of the Monmouth Street side of the project proposed for the Monmouth Street site, below. (Rendering by SOME Architects. Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
On the Red Bank zoning board’s agenda Thursday night: a 59-unit apartment project proposed for the onetime site of Clarence Clemons‘ Big Man’s West rock venue.
Also up for review: a restaurant instead of a laundromat on Shrewsbury Avenue.
RED BANK: SHELL GETS SHOP OK ON THIRD TRY
The car wash at left is to be replaced by a convenience store. (April, 2019 photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
After a favorable zoning change last year, Red Bank’s lone Shell station won approval to add a convenience store Monday night.
A neighbor called the proposal “lipstick on a pig.” The planning board’s chairman called it “a better pig.”
RED BANK: HOUSING UPGRADES PROMISED
The Evergreen Terrace senior apartments and the nearby Montgomery Terrace units would get a more reliable source of funding for repairs, officials said. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Residents of Red Bank’s two publicly subsidized housing complexes will see improvements to their communities under planned funding changes, an official assured them last week.
RED BANK: PROJECT REVIEW GETS UNDERWAY
An architect’s rendering showing the West Front Street side of the proposed project, with the existing office building at left. (Rendering by Feinberg & Associates. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A plan to build 150 apartments atop an existing restaurant and parking deck in downtown Red Bank got its first taste of public scrutiny Thursday night.
While descriptions of the project by an engineer and an architect for developer PRC Group took up most of the three-hour zoning board hearing, it became clear that the plan’s scale, and impact on traffic, are likely to be issues.
RED BANK: MASSIVE DEVELOPMENT ON DECK
A proposal to add 150 apartments to the Red Bank Corporate Plaza complex on West Front Street is scheduled to go before the borough zoning board Thursday night.
As previously reported by redbankgreen, the project would shatter the borough’s limits on building height, density and more if approved.
Here’s what you need to know about the application. (Rendering by Feinberg & Associates. Click to enlarge.)
RED BANK: FORMER DOCTORS’ OFFICE IN REHAB
A long-vacant structure on Shrewsbury Avenue in Red Bank is getting a major addition.
What’s Going On Here? Read on for the answer… and some history. (Photo by Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge.)
FAIR HAVEN: AN ELEGANT ENIGMA ON DISPLAY
The window display at Haute Couture Creations as seen last week. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Luminously elegant in her strapless white gown, she swans through a flock of origami doves behind full-length windows in the heart of Fair Haven’s quaint business district.
For more than a decade, that mannequin and another on display at Haute Couture Creations have been something of an enigma for passersby: their outfits never seem to change. But thanks to a Facebook thread, only recently have locals collectively realized something even odder: the boutique itself is never open for business.
RED BANK: CHURNING OUT A THIRD VENTURE
Erica Lieberman and Nick Napoletano in their third Monmouth Street restaurant, called Toss’d. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
What’s the secret to surviving as owners in Red Bank’s crowded dining market?
In this edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn, a pair of accidental restaurateurs share some insights as they prepare to launch their third concurrent venture in the heart of downtown.
RED BANK: CORNER PLAN GETS THUMBS DOWN
The project would replace a vacant office and retail building at the corner of Shrewsbury Avenue and Drs. James Parker Boulevard. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A proposal for 16 apartments above stores at a busy Red Bank intersection was sent back to the drawing board Thursday night, when neighbors and zoning board members declared it too big.
RED BANK: SCAVONE TO LEAVE RIVERCENTER
Jim Scavone, left, with Mayor Pasquale Menna and Visitors Center director Margaret Mass at the opening of RiverCenter’s offices on Broad Street in October, 2018. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Jim Scavone, who led Red Bank RiverCenter for the past six years, is leaving the downtown promotion organization.
He won’t be going far, though: he’s taking a job at Hackensack Meridian Health at Riverview Medical Center, just on the edge of special improvement district he managed.