RED BANK: PARKING PLAN ADVANCES, BARELY

A divided council gave the go-ahead for a consultant to develop a concept plan for the White Street parking lot. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank moved another step toward a possible answer to its chronic parking woes Wednesday night, but only after Mayor Pasquale Menna cast a pair of tiebreakers that put him at odds with fellow Democrats.

Menna’s votes were necessary after the council’s two lone Democrats joined with its sole independent in raising objections to a $6,500 contract for a concept plan covering the borough-owned White Street parking lot, where merchants and town officials envision a parking garage.

The debate also exposed rare friction between Menna and Red Bank RiverCenter, the semi-authonomous agency that promotes downtown business interests.

August 11, 2016 - 7:15 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: APARTMENTS & GARAGE PROPOSED

The taxi dispatch office on Oakland Street alongside the train station would be demolished and replaced with a parking garage and some commercial space topped by apartments. The new structure would connect to the office building seen in the background, on Chestnut Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Fourteen months after the debut of a short-lived plan for a brewery next door to the Red Bank train station, a builder has proposed an ambitious mixed-use project with 45 apartments at the site.

Denholtz Associates, a national development and property management firm based in Matawan, also wants to create a 129-car parking garage, along with a small amount of commercial space, on adjoining lots that run from Oakland to Chestnut streets, according to plans filed with the borough.

August 5, 2016 - 9:19 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: APARTMENTS ON AGENDA

A proposed six-unit, two-story apartment building on the site of garage at 205 South Pearl Street is among the items on Thursday’s agenda for the Red Bank zoning boards. The project, at the entrance to the Arrow Limousine parking lot, needs a carload of vriances, including one for density, with 45 units per acre proposed where 16 per acre are allowed. Here’s the full agenda. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

August 1, 2016 - 12:14 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: ZONING SHORTCUT INTRODUCED

A map showing a potential new “area in need of rehabilitation” that was quietly put into play Wednesday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Over the objections of two council members and several residents that “it doesn’t smell right,” Red Bank’s governing body furthered plans for both a possible downtown parking garage and a proposed apartment building Wednesday night.

And without a word of public description or discussion beforehand, the council also started a process that could lead to designating a large swath of the town as an “area in need of rehabilitation,” which one official said would make it easier for developers to avoid variances when their plans don’t comply with the zoning law. Read More »

July 14, 2016 - 8:00 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: RAYRAP CONCEPT GETS THE HOOK

An informal planning board hearing on developer Ray Rapcavage’s concept plan for 18 homes at the five corners in Red Bank was kept short Wednesday night after board attorney Mike Leckstein raised concerns about the board discussing a matter that may have to be heard by the zoning board. Rapcavage’s last proposal, calling for 22 homes on the site, was denied by the zoning board in December.

In his brief presentation, architect David Carnivale told the board the new plan calls 18 homes “meant to evoke European palaces overlooking a garden.” More details about the proposal are here. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

July 7, 2016 - 9:59 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: REDEVELOPMENT PLANS ADVANCE

The West Front Street site where a 35-unit apartment building was rejected by the zoning board last year could end up with new zoning, a planning attorney said. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Two Red Bank properties cleared a key hurdle toward possible redevelopment Wednesday night.

One is the borough-owned White Street parking lot, where merchants and town officials envision a parking garage.

The other is a privately owned site that several commenters, including two board members, said shouldn’t even have been part of the discussion.

July 7, 2016 - 9:30 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: THREE MAJOR PROJECTS ON AGENDA

The council directed the planning board to evaluate the borough-owned White Street lot for its “suitability” for a parking garage — and to do the same for a private lot where the zoning board turned down a 35-unit apartment building. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Three projects with the potential to dramatically alter downtown Red Bank for generations are slated for review by the borough planning board Wednesday night.

On the agenda:

• a legal interpretation that could lead to the construction of a new parking facility on White Street

• a do-over of sorts for a rejected 35-unit apartment building on West Front Street

• and yet another plan for housing on a disused “five corners” property on the edge of downtown.

July 6, 2016 - 7:00 am | Comments ()

SEA BRIGHT: IDEAS SOUGHT FOR PARK SITE

What should become of Anchorage Park, the 1.2-acre sliver of riverside land at the foot of the Route 520 bridge in Sea Bright?

Acquired by the borough after Hurricane Sandy left the Anchorage Apartments uninhabitable in 2012, the now-vacant site may be eligible for grant money. But first, borough officials are asking for public input: should it be developed, along the lines of the concept shown above? Planted with grass and left at that?

A public discussion of the matter has been scheduled for Tuesday, March 15 at 6 p.m. at borough hall. The regular council meeting will follow at 7 p.m. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

March 8, 2016 - 4:00 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: ZONERS QUESTION HOUSING PLAN

An architect’s rendering, above, shows the elevated patio of the proposed Element apartments, with parking underneath. Below, a view of the property, which includes a strip alongside the old Liberty Hose firehouse on White Street. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

55 w front 080315 Questions about parking adequacy and affordable housing continued to dominate as the Red Bank zoning board resumed hearings on a 35-unit apartment building proposed for West Front Street Thursday night.

Dubbed the Element, the project would be built on an irregularly shaped, three-quarter-acre vacant lot facing Riverside Gardens Park at one end and White Street, alongside the former Liberty Hose firehouse, on the other.

September 18, 2015 - 8:14 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: APARTMENT PLAN BACK ON AGENDA

After another two-month break, the Red Bank zoning board’s hearing on the Element, a proposed 35-unit apartment complex at 55 West Front Street, is scheduled to resume Thursday night. The property, opposite Riverside Gardens Park, was formerly the site of a nursing home.

The board meets at borough hall at 6:30 p.m. (Architect’s rendering. Click to enlarge)

August 17, 2015 - 5:34 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: NO VOTE ON WEST FRONT UNITS

After three hours of testimony and few questions from zoning board members, a hearing on a proposed 35-unit apartment complex fronting on West Front Street in Red Bank ended without reaching a vote Thursday night.

The hearing on the project, located opposite Riverside Gardens Park and called the Element, is scheduled to resume June 18. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

June 5, 2015 - 10:00 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: APARTMENT PROPOSAL ON AGENDA

A zoning board hearing on a proposed 35-unit apartment complex fronting on West Front Street opposite Riverside Gardens Park in Red Bank is scheduled to resume after a two-month interval Thursday night.

Testimony on traffic flow and parking is expected, with a possible vote on the plan, called 55 West Front. The board meets at borough hall at 6:30 p.m. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

June 4, 2015 - 5:23 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: CLARITY ASKED ON W. FRONT PLAN

A photo montage, above, showing the West Front Street elevation of the proposed building. Below, a rendering of a deck atop the garage, also visible at right in the image above. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

The quest for approval of a proposed 35-unit apartment building in downtown Red Bank was slowed Thursday night by another document already in the developer’s pocket: an eight-year-old plan for 27 condos at the same site.

Members of the zoning board and neighbors of the proposed 55 West Front Street project, located opposite Riverside Gardens Park, were frequently flummoxed by how variances the developer is now seeking differed from those obtained in 2007.

“I wasn’t here when the original plan was approved, and I don’t know who on this board was,” a clearly frustrated board member Sean Murphy told the applicant’s lawyer, Peter Falvo.

April 3, 2015 - 9:30 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: APARTMENT PLAN ON AGENDA

At 55 West Front Street, a developer is seeking approval for 35 rental units on a vacant lot previously approved for 27 condos. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

After a nearly eight-year interim, new plans for a prominent Red Bank parcel are scheduled to go before the borough zoning board Thursday night.

The proposal, for a vacant lot opposite Riverside Gardens Park on West Front Street, replaces a plan approved in 2007 for 27 condos to replace a since-demolished Meridian nursing home.

April 1, 2015 - 11:00 am | Comments ()

SEA BRIGHT: PLAN FOR SCHOOL’S NOT COOL

Vacant since 1978, the old Sea Bright School, below, would be refashioned into a 12-unit apartment building, as shown in the rendering above. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Eight years after winning approval to turn Sea Bright’s long-abandoned former schoolhouse into 13 condos, a developer ran into resistance with proposed changes to the plan Tuesday night.

Aldo Frustaci, who paid $100,000 for the River Street structure in 1996, will go back to the drawing board again, his lawyer said, after the planning board raised questions about a proposed flat roof and other aspects of the proposal – including the aesthetics.

“This just looks like an ugly box,” board vice chairman Dave Deseo told the architect, Darius Toraby.

February 11, 2015 - 7:20 am | Comments ()

SEA BRIGHT: APARTMENTS RAZED FOR PARK

Sea Bright’s Anchorage Apartments, left uninhabitable by the converging waters of the Atlantic Ocean and Shrewsbury River in Hurricane Sandy, were demolished Saturday. Using Green Acres funding, the state plans to buy the complex, at the anchorage of the Rumson-Sea Bright Bridge, and turn it into a 1.2-acre park. At right: during the October, 2012 hurricane, a utility pole became lodged in one of the first-floor units. (Photo above by Kenny Katzgrau. Click to enlarge)

February 2, 2015 - 6:38 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: HOMEBUILDERS EYE WEST FRONT

Under concept plans filed by KHov, a building at Maple Avenue and West Front Street, center above, would be replaced by eight townhouses. Less than a block away, a developer is seeking approval for 35 rental units, shown below, on a vacant lot already approved for 27 condos. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

More multi-unit homebuilders have their eyes on Red Bank. West Front Street, in particular.

Two proposals that would add 43 new residences to the stretch of West Front between Maple Avenue and English Plaza have been filed with the borough planning board.

January 7, 2015 - 3:00 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: LOFTS LAND WEST ELM AS TENANT

The furniture retailer will occupy the ground-floor corner at West Front Street and Bridge Avenue, as shown in this rendering. (Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank’s West Side Lofts project now under construction has landed upscale furniture retailer West Elm as an anchor tenant.

The pending arrival of the store, slated for next August, was at the center of a handful of changes to the massive project the borough zoning board approved Thursday night.

December 5, 2014 - 7:56 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: ANDERSON SAILS TO APPROVAL

An architect’s rendering of the proposed Anderson Storage building, as seen from Bridge Avenue. Below, zoning board member Jesse Garrison, left, congratulates developer Chris Cole after the vote. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

The second plan to transform the Red Bank’s former Anderson storage building in a decade cruised to approval Thursday night.

The earlier approval, obtained in 2006 and never followed up on, was to convert the long-vacant, 27,000-square-foot structure into 23 condos. This one calls for a four-story addition and other changes to produce a 48,600SF office structure with a stores and a restaurant on the ground floor, a greenhouse on the roof, and a small shop made of shipping containers in the rear parking lot.

The new plan had some tailwind created by its predecessor.

October 17, 2014 - 8:00 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: CLOSING IN ON WEST SIDE LOFTS

A fifth-floor view of the “mews” between two buildings at the West Side Lofts, looking toward the Two River Theater. Below, developer Chris Cole. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

After years on the drawing board, one of the biggest – and architecturally boldest – residential projects ever conceived for Red Bank is nearing completion.

While area merchants and restaurateurs anxiously await their arrival, West Side Lofts developer Chris Cole said he’s planning on having the first tenants move in as early as February.

Designed by David Baker Architects in San Francisco, the project features 92 rental units in a Rubik’s-cube-like amalgam of bold color and jutting facades that dominates the corner of West Front Street and Bridge Avenue, in what’s sometimes referred to as the Arts and Antiques District of town.

But “it’s not trying to make a statement,” Cole told redbankgreen on a recent tour. “It’s more trying to embrace the arty side of town.”

October 16, 2014 - 9:44 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: PLAN ‘SPICES UP’ ANDERSON SITE

Metrovation partner Chris Cole with a rendering of the proposed project. Below, a freestanding structure in the parking lot would be be made of shipping containers. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

A plan to transform the former Anderson storage building in Red Bank into stores and offices reflects years of thinking about how to integrate it into the surrounding neighborhood, proponents told the borough zoning board Thursday night.

Testifying for developer Metrovation, architect Terry William Smith detailed a plan that he said “honors the integrity and the authenticity of the original building” via a four-story addition with a red brick exterior and lots of exposed wood and steel inside. “We’re not tampering with that,” he said.

Still, the project includes some giddy touches, including a small, freestanding structure made of shipping containers in the center of the parking lot and a century-old greenhouse on the roof.

October 3, 2014 - 9:24 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: ANDERSON MAKEOVER RETURNS

The former Anderson storage property on Monmouth Street abuts the North Jersey Coast Line. Below, an architect’s rendering of the remodeled building. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Two years after scuttling plans that would have transformed the long-vacant Anderson Brothers warehouse in Red Bank into luxury condos, developer Metrovation is back, minus the living units.

A plan to instead turn the three-story, red-brick structure into two floors of office space above street-level stores and a restaurant is scheduled to be heard by the borough zoning board Thursday night.

October 2, 2014 - 9:21 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: PARTY OUT BACK AT STATION PLACE

For weeks, it’s looked like a giant version of Thomas Edison’s ‘Black Maria,” a hulking four-story monolith of funereal blackness taking up half a block of Monmouth Street in Red Bank. But things are a lot less dour on the other side of the Station Place apartment complex under construction, as the photo at right shows. Developer Roger Mumford tells redbankgreen the project will be completed by late November, when leasing will begin. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

August 19, 2014 - 12:47 pm | Comments ()

SEA BRIGHT: ROONEY BUILDING APPROVED

The Ocean Avenue lot where Frances Rooney, seen above in April, has sold hot dogs from a cart since 1977 will become Rooney Plaza, below. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Mrs. Rooney selling hot dogs indoors?

To Sea Brighters and other passersby, the idea that Frances Rooney, the hardy weiner merchant who sometimes defies the pleas of her children not to go out in arctic weather, would no longer ply her trade in the elements might seem unnatural.

But with the planning board’s approval Tuesday night of a four-story, mixed-used structure on her gravel lot at Ocean Avenue and Surf Street, it may happen, she told redbankgreen.

August 13, 2014 - 7:00 am | Comments ()

SEA BRIGHT: GROUP TO PAY ANCHORAGE TAB

The Anchorage Apartments, overlooking the Shrewsbury River, would be razed for a park under a DEP plan. (Click to enlarge)

By SARAH KLEPNER

Sea Bright’s borough council voted Thursday night to work with the state Department of Environmental Protection on turning the Anchorage Apartments into open space after a group volunteered to make up for the town’s lost tax revenue.

The council made clear, though, that it would not support any parking on the property, which is located across Ocean Avenue from an ocean beach owned by the state and maintained by the borough. The governing body also insisted local control in its resolution of support, which is non-binding on the state.

July 12, 2013 - 12:03 pm | Comments ()

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