RED BANK: BUILDING MAKEOVER PROPOSED
RED BANK: GUT JOB, BUT NO EATERY FOR NOW
Architect Jim Monteforte details proposed facade changes to 39 East Front Street, seen below, at Wednesday night’s planning board meeting. (Photo by John T. Ward. Rendering below by Monteforte Architects. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A proposed makeover of a bunker-like building in downtown Red Bank won unanimous approval from the borough planning board Wednesday night.
But the board held off on allowing the building’s new owners to create a restaurant on the ground floor.
RED BANK: OPEN-AIR STAIR MAY BE ENCLOSED
Designed by Red Bank architect Jerome Morley Larson in the 1970s, the open-air stairway would be enclosed as shown below if the plan is approved. (Photo by John T. Ward; rendering by SOME Architects. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
For the second time in less than four years, proposed changes to one of downtown Red Bank’s most distinctive buildings are slated for review by the borough zoning board Thursday night.
The plan for 7 Broad Street calls for enclosing the building’s unusual open-air staircase and refacing the building as shown at right, along with converting second-floor offices to apartments.
RED BANK: FUGLY BUILDING UP FOR MAKEOVER
The new owners of 39 East Front Street propose to redo the facade in the style below, with a restaurant or shops on the ground floor. (Photo by John T. Ward. Rendering below by Monteforte Architects. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Downtown Red Bank’s fugliest building may get a facelift and a new life as home to a restaurant or stores.
After the last owner tried and failed to win approval for a combination pharmacy and convenience store, the new owners of 39 East Front Street have filed plans that include replacing the bunker-like stucco facade.
RED BANK: SCAFFOLDS RISE DOWNTOWN
RED BANK: FACADE REPAIR UNDERWAY
The sidewalk and parking spots in front of 21 Broad Street in Red Bank remained blocked off Tuesday morning, one day after a 12-foot long section of the facade broke off from above a third-story window and crashed to the sidewalk.
Assistant construction code official John Drucker tells redbankgreen the piece that fell was a plaster-covered cap that broke off after the wood beneath it rotted away. A contractor was on the scene Tuesday morning with a lift to remove the additional capping above the third-floor windows and to check the integrity of the overall facade, he said. The building, which has been vacant since the departure of Agostino Antiques in 2012, is being used temporarily for the shooting of next season’s ‘Comic Book Men’ on AMC. (Click to enlarge)
RED BANK: PIECE OF FACADE BREAKS OFF
No injuries occurred as a piece of the facade at 21 Broad Street in Red Bank broke off from above a second-story window and crashed to the sidewalk around 10 a.m. Monday.
The long-vacant building, formerly home to Agostino Antiques, is being used temporarily for the shooting of next season’s ‘Comic Book Men’ on AMC. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
RED BANK: LOOKING GLASSY, 7 BROAD
A plan to remove an exterior staircase and enclose the facade in glass was approved after changes requested by the zoning board. (Click to enlarge)
By SARAH KLEPNER
Another building on Red Bank’s Broad Street will be getting the glass-front treatment, though with less than originally proposed.
Having raised objections to earlier plans that included a fishbowl scenario of wall-to-wall glass for two bedrooms and a living room in a proposed second-floor residence, the zoning board last week approved several variances for a revised set of plans for 7 Broad Street.
BASIE PUTS MARQUEE MAN’S NAME IN LIGHTS
The Basie is giving an electronic shout-out to Roy McCurdy now that it’s completed the marquee. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
Roy McCurdy spent 19 years taking an extended pole outside the Count Basie Theatre to change the names on the theater marquee. And he’s proud to say he did it with few misspellings.
“‘Engelbert Humperdinck‘ try spelling that without it written down letter by letter for you,” McCurdy said. “That’s a difficult one.”
When theater fired up a new digital marquee this week, so ended McCurdy’s days in front of it. But for the moment, he’s on it.
Y EXPANSION STALLED BY FACADE DESIGN
The YMCA took down some trees along its Maple Avenue frontage last month.
There’s still no decision over an expansion plan by the Community YMCA that includes a facade that some by the Red Bank zoning board members consider too futuristic-looking for the area.
Today’s Asbury Park Press reports that
Board member Rosemary Minear’s position that the design is out of place was backed by Board attorney Marc Leckstein and engineer Christine Ballard. Leckstein and Ballard questioned whether the architecture conforms to an ordinance requiring facades in the that area to have a residential appearance, similar to other buildings on that part of the street.