RED BANK: HPC AIMS TO SAVE DOOMED HOUSE

The Victorian structure, now said to have been built before 1868, is slated for demolition. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

hot topic red bank nj Five months after Red Bank’s planning board approved the demolition of a Victorian house owned by Riverview Medical Center, the borough Historic Preservation Commission is hoping to save it.

Relying on newly assembled information showing the house at 95 East Front Street was older than previously believed — and may have belonged to descendants of a prominent industrialist — the HPC plans to ask the hospital to turn it into a “medical bed & breakfast.”

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July 18, 2019 - 8:30 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: OFFICES WITH CAR LIFTS OK’D

A schematic of the proposed structure with the underground vehicle storage racks visible. (Drawing by Bob Van Remoortel. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

hot topic red bank nj A proposed office building that would transform a prominent corner of Red Bank’s Washington Street Historic District won planning board approval Monday night.

The project comes with a first for the town: a valet-operated parking system that can store up to 92 cars in underground racks.

March 19, 2019 - 8:15 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: PLANS CLEARS HISTORICAL REVIEW

Architect Bob Van Remoortel shows the Historic Preservation Commission the revised proposal for a medical office building Wednesday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

hot topic red bank nj Following radical changes, a proposed office building in Red Bank’s Washington Street Historic District won endorsement from newly muscular Historic Preservation Commission Wednesday night. Read More »

January 17, 2019 - 9:10 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: BUILDING DESIGN TO BE REVISED

Architect Brian Tracy shows the Historic Preservation Commission a revised proposal for a medical office building Wednesday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

hot topic red bank nj A modernist office building topped by what looked like an overturned laundry basket won’t be built in Red Bank’s Washington Street Historic District as proposed, an architect said Wednesday night.

But neither, it appears, will his replacement design, which Historic Preservation Commission members still found unacceptable.

December 20, 2018 - 10:20 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: RIVERMARK PROJECT APPROVED

The proposed Rivermark building shown above was modified before approval. (Rendering by Michael Monroe. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank’s planning board gave swift approval Monday night to a proposed commercial and residential building at a key downtown corner after it was downsized.

July 17, 2018 - 12:30 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: CORNER PROJECT ‘TOO BIG’

The two buildings on the northeast corner of West Front Street and Maple Avenue would be replaced under Mark Forman’s plan. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank’s planning board asked the developer of proposed commercial and residential building at a key corner downtown to make it smaller Wednesday night.

June 5, 2018 - 7:30 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: DEVELOPER CLARIFIES PLAN STATUS

The prospective buyer of a high-profile corner in Red Bank is planning to erect an office building there, but not the one shown on his website, he told redbankgreen Wednesday night.

November 30, 2017 - 7:45 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: PRESERVATIONISTS CONCERNED

A website posting by the prospective buyer of two Red Bank buildings listed on an inventory of historic properties hints at big changes to come. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank preservationists expressed concern in recent days over the pending sale of two downtown buildings they believe have historic significance.

November 29, 2017 - 7:15 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: FORTUNE HOUSE RESCUE PLAN OK’D

Developer Roger Mumford with an architect’s rendering of the T. Thomas Fortune house as it would appear after restoration. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

A decade-long effort to save an endangered artifact of African-American history cleared a major milestone Thursday night when the Red Bank zoning board approved a developer’s plan to rebuild the T. Thomas Fortune house and create 31 apartments on its one-acre property.

Borough-based homebuilder Roger Mumford, who vowed to restore and donate the house for use as a cultural center before he would seek certificates of occupancy for the apartments, was hailed as the last-chance savior of a vital relic of the civil rights movement that its current owners want to raze. Residents told the board before its vote that Mumford deserved the tradeoff of more than a dozen variances, most of them arising from the apartment plan.

“If a development project has ever given back to the community, it’s this one,” said Kalman Pipo, a member of the borough’s Historic Preservation Commission. “If this project doesn’t go through, we are going to lose this house” to the wrecking ball, he said.

July 22, 2016 - 1:08 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: PRESERVATION EFFORTS LAUDED

The home of Paul and Nancy Cagno, at the corner of Wallace and Mount streets, above, and the circa 1903 mansion that’s now the office of Smallwood Wealth Management, at 199 Broad Street, below, were among the four structures cited. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

199 broad 091515 Three Broad Street buildings and a home in the historic district won kudos from the Red Bank Historic Preservation Commission at a ceremony Tuesday night.

Kicking off what members hope to become an annual series, the commission honored property owners in four categories for “adding to the value of Red Bank by adding to the character” of the town, in the words of Chairwoman Michaela Ferrigine.

September 16, 2015 - 12:00 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: ANOTHER RESTAURANT APPROVED

At 18 Broad Street, now concealed by scaffolding, the Art Deco foyer seen below will be replaced by one more reminiscent of the building’s 19th-century origins, the architect said. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Accelerating downtown Red Bank’s flight from retail to food, the zoning board approved the conversion of a longtime shoe store to a restaurant Thursday night.

Dominating the two-hour hearing were two issues: whether the new owner of 18 Broad Street should be permitted to have three apartments upstairs, rather than the two allowed under the zoning ordinance, and whether the Art Deco foyer should be saved or replaced.

Barely mentioned: the impact of the 76-seat restaurant on parking.

June 19, 2015 - 7:30 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: FOCUS ON FOYER WINDOWS

The foyer of the former If the Shoe Fits store is the last remaining example of Art Deco design downtown, say preservationists. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

[UPDATE: The zoning board meeting on the 18 Broad Street proposal was cancelled. The application was rescheduled for June 18.]

A proposal to turn a former downtown Red Bank shoe store into a restaurant and replace its distinctive curved-glass entryway is slated for review at Thursday night’s zoning board meeting.

Preservationists have raised concerns about the plan for 18 Broad Street, which is located in the historic district, because, they say, it would eliminate the last remaining example of Art Deco design in the commercial district.

May 21, 2015 - 7:00 am | Comments ()

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RED BANK: HPC AIMS TO SAVE DOOMED HOUSE

RED BANK: OFFICES WITH CAR LIFTS OK’D

RED BANK: PLANS CLEARS HISTORICAL REVIEW

RED BANK: BUILDING DESIGN TO BE REVISED

RED BANK: RIVERMARK PROJECT APPROVED

RED BANK: CORNER PROJECT ‘TOO BIG’

RED BANK: DEVELOPER CLARIFIES PLAN STATUS

RED BANK: PRESERVATIONISTS CONCERNED

RED BANK: FORTUNE HOUSE RESCUE PLAN OK’D

RED BANK: PRESERVATION EFFORTS LAUDED

RED BANK: ANOTHER RESTAURANT APPROVED

RED BANK: FOCUS ON FOYER WINDOWS