RED BANK: ANDERSON’S LONG VACANCY ENDS
After decades of disuse, a building in Red Bank’s train station district has a stunning new addition – and its first tenant.
What’s Going On Here? Read on… Read More
RED BANK: BOARD AIRS SAXUM PLAN HURDLES
A rendering depicts the proposed plaza at Riverside Avenue and Bodman Place that board members raised safety concerns about. (Rendering by Arterial Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank planning board members aired numerous misgivings about one of the largest development plans in borough history Monday night.
High on the list that developer Saxum Real Estate is expected to address: traffic and pedestrian safety issues. Read More
RED BANK: WRECKING BALL FOR BIG MAN’S?
The onetime home of Big Man’s West would be razed accommodate a proposed apartment building. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Plans for a proposed 62-unit apartment project in Red Bank call for razing a building that holds a place in rock ‘n roll history: the former Big Man’s West, a concert venue owned by late saxophonist Clarence Clemons.
RED BANK: APARTMENT PROJECTS PLANNED
A rendering of the Monmouth Street side of the project proposed by Michael Salerno. (Rendering by SOME Architects. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Sixty-nine new apartments would be built on the edge of downtown Red Bank if two projects pending before the planning and zoning boards win approval.
One would replace a building that holds a place in rock ‘n roll history as the home of Big Man’s West, a club owned by late saxophonist Clarence Clemons.
RED BANK: TACOS & SUSHI SLIDE INTO TOWN
Yumi, at 9 Broad Street, hopes to replicate the success it’s had in Sea Bright. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Foodies have two new dining-out options in downtown Red Bank, with the openings last week of taco and sushi restaurants.
Read all about them in this quick-read edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn.
RED BANK: CONCERNS AIRED OVER LEAD TESTS
Caution tape signaled the closing of the Marion Street garden in August. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Users of Red Bank’s community garden questioned the borough government’s sense of urgency Wednesday night about the presence of lead in soil at the town’s only community garden.
LITTLE SILVER: SIDEWALK PROJECT BEGINS
Motorists have been encountering detours on Branch Avenue at the Little Silver-Red Bank border all week long. What’s Going On Here?
It’s the beginning of a sidewalk replacement and installation program that Little Silver officials hope will reshape the walkability of the suburban town over the next year and a half. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
RED BANK: ENGLISH PLAZA MAKEOVER WRAPS
Except for a few punchlist items, a four-month, $1.53 million streetscape project in downtown Red Bank is now completed, according to business promotion agency Red Bank RiverCenter.
What’s Going On Here? Read on.
RED BANK: FLOWERS & PHONES IN, PIZZA OUT
Abby Lawal outside Supreme Floral, which she opened with her husband in August. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Downtown Red Bank has added a new flower shop and lost a longtime restaurant, while another plans to expand.
Read all about them, plus a phone store that’s cloning itself, in this summer-closing edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn.
RED BANK: PARKING SYSTEM TO GET MAKEOVER
Interim parking director Tom Calu with a smart meter at Wednesday’s presentation. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s entire inventory of parking meters and kiosks is slated for replacement, borough officials said Wednesday, as they debuted a ‘smart’ meter scheduled for rollout curbside early next year.
Meantime, the search for a parking director, the foremost recommendation of a parking study released in January, has been “disappointing,” the official leading the search told redbankgreen.
RED BANK: NEW PARKING METERS TO DEBUT
Red Bank is planning to replace its coin-operated parking meters, and the public will get a chance this week to weigh in Wednesday on the changes they’ll bring. Read More
RED BANK: PLAZA FOCUS OF SAXUM HEARING
A rendering depicts the Bodman Place side of the proposed apartment project. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The fate of one of the largest development plans in Red Bank history remained unresolved Monday night.
At the fourth planning board hearing on the 210-unit apartment complex proposed for the site of the former VNA headquarters, attention centered largely on the wisdom of putting a public plaza on busy Riverside Avenue.
RED BANK: MURAL REQUESTS TO GET REVIEW
Pearl Street Consignment and Custom Clothes owner Emily Natale working on a mural on the Monmouth Street side of her shop last week. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank officials plan to create a committee to formally review requests for murals and other forms of public art, something that hasn’t previously existed, Business Administrator Ziad Shehady said last week.
RED BANK: FOURTH-GENERATION BIZ CLOSING
The home of Sanford Auto Body, at the corner of West and Wall streets, will be razed to create parking for the nearby Red Bank Corporate Plaza, the sellers say. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
After almost 80 years banging out dents and straightening frames, a Red Bank auto body shop is headed to the scrap heap.
RED BANK: WIRE SNIP SNAPS UTILITY POLE
No injuries were reported, and power was not immediately affected, after a utility pole snapped and fell against a building on English Plaza in Red Bank Thursday afternoon.
RED BANK: COUNCIL PULLS U-TURN ON ALLEY
A view of the nameless alley from Boat Club Court. Condos are to be built on the vacant lot at left. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A downtown Red Bank alleyway won’t be named for former mayor Ed McKenna after all.
Instead, it will be named ‘Ice Boat Lane,’ to honor the North Shrewsbury Ice Boat & Yacht Club, located just yards away.
RED BANK: POOP & MORE DELAY SAXUM VOTE
A rendering displayed at the planning board depicts a public plaza on the Riverside Avenue side of the proposed apartment project. (Rendering by Arterial. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Unanswered questions held up a planning board vote on one of the largest development plans in Red Bank history Wednesday night.
Among them: where will the poop deposited on the rooftop dog runs go?
RED BANK: STREETSCAPE PROJECT NEARS END
A summer-long streetscape project in downtown Red Bank neared completion this week. But it will take one last, extended disruption to get there, says Red Bank RiverCenter.
What’s Going On Here? Read on.
RED BANK: TESTS DETAIL GARDEN LEAD LEVELS
The community garden on Marion Street was overrun with weeds Tuesday afternoon. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Three weeks after Red Bank shut down its sole community garden in response to a report of elevated lead in the soil, testing shows lead below levels considered unsafe, the borough said in an announcement Tuesday.
RED BANK: THAI, MINI-DRONES, TACOS & MORE
The space vacated by Siam Garden, at the north end of the Galleria Red Bank, will soon get a new Thai restaurant run by a familiar chef. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Fans of Red Bank’s recently closed Siam Gardens will soon have a new Thai restaurant to check out, and won’t have to change their routes to get there.
This edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn has the dish, as well as word about a new indoor, mini-drone-flying course and other business churnage.
RED BANK: PLASTIC BAG BAN PASSES
A ban on single-use plastic bags will go into effect in September, 2020. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank stores will be barred from giving customers plastic bags and styrofoam food containers under an ordinance adopted by the council Wednesday night.
The ban was approved without any opposition voiced, though supermarket executive lamented that such laws are being adopted town-by-town, rather than at the state level.
RED BANK: DEBATE OVER ‘McKENNA WAY’
Ex-mayor Ed McKenna with former councilman Tom Hintelmann at Democratic headquarters on election night last November. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
An ordinance that would name a downtown alleyway for former Red Bank mayor Ed McKenna drew both criticism and support at Wednesday night’s council meeting.
FAIR HAVEN: DUNKIN’ WINS BOARD APPROVAL
Though turns would still be allowed in both directions on River Road, the shopping center’s eastern driveway will be changed to exit-only, under a condition set by the board. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
More than a year after it was proposed, a Dunkin’ coffee shop won approval to operate in Fair Haven Monday night.
The 6-2 planning board vote, shortly before 11 p.m. capped months of passionate debate over traffic safety, a fast-food law that went MIA and the shop’s potential impact on the small-town character of the borough.
RED BANK: RIVERWALK BACK ON TRACK?
Two years after borough officials shut down construction over safety issues, signs of life have been stirring around a downtown Red Bank building project.
What’s Going On Here? Read on…
RED BANK: McKENNA GETS HIS… ALLEYWAY
The town-owned alleyway off Boat Club Court would be renamed for ex-mayor Ed McKenna, seen below at a zoning board meeting in March. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
An alleyway in downtown Red Bank will be named in honor of former mayor Ed McKenna, the borough council informally agreed Wednesday night.
The nameless alley, off Boat Club Court, runs between a row of stores fronting on West Front Street and a vacant lot that’s slated to become home to a new 10-unit luxury condo project.