Erin Oakley of Fantastic Signs installing temporary signs for Sally Boy’s restaurant at 1 Broad Street Thursday. (Photo by Allan Bass. Click to enlarge.)
See UPDATE below
By JOHN T. WARD
Seven years after its last occupant left, one of Red Bank’s most visible retail spaces is finally getting set for a new one.
Read all about in this edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn.
Students working on a mural in the background as new plants soak up the sun in the community garden at the Coffee Corral. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
On a mostly vacant corner lot in Red Bank that was to have been the home of a new restaurant, the kids have taken over.
In recent weeks, students from the borough’s middle school have planted a community garden behind the Coffee Corral, at the corner of Shrewsbury Avenue and Drs. James Parker Boulevard. Others are in the process of transforming two sides of a garage into lush, coffee-themed murals.
The parent company of OceanFirst Bank plans to absorb two smaller banking operations, it announced Friday.
The OceanFirst Bank headquarters was the subject of a reverse appeal case settled Wednesday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Bombarded by criticism from the business community, the Red Bank council on Wednesday dropped a plan to pursue a new round of “reverse appeals” against commercial properties it believed to be undertaxed.
But first, the council approved the settlement of an older reverse appeal that will boost the taxable value of a downtown building by 69 percent over three years. And battles over cases filed in 2018 continue.
Without fanfare, what may be Red Bank’s first outdoor news ticker flickered to life at the corner of West Front Street and Maple Avenue.
But wait: don’t borough ordinances prohibit internally illuminated and animated signs? They do. So What’s Going On Here?
An exhibit used in the Coffee Corral hearing illustrates the placement of the new building, which would on Shrewsbury Avenue at the corner of Drs. James Parker Boulevard. The existing shop would be used for roasting beans. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s Coffee Corral won approval for an ambitious West Side building plan Monday.
The borough planning board gave a unanimous OK for owners Courtlyn Crosson and her father, business founder Russ Crosson, to transform vacant land at the corner of Shrewsbury Avenue and Drs. James Parker Boulevard into a new home for the coffee shop, plus an adjoining restaurant.
Hovnanian’s headquarters, at Maple Avenue and West Front Street, will become “HQ II” for OceanFirst Financial. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
In what may be a record-setting transaction for the borough, OceanFirst Financial paid $42.5 million in late October to buy the Red Bank headquarters of homebuilder Hovnanian Enterprises, redbankgreen has learned.
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.
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.
Hovnanian’s headquarters in Red Bank, as seen from the borough library. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
OceanFirst Financial plans to buy the Red Bank headquarters of homebuilder Hovnanian Enterprises, redbankgreen has learned.
OceanFirst Bank will take space in a building that’s been a supermarket, a five-and-dime and home to a number of financial services companies over its 92-year history. (Click to enlarge)
By DANIELLE TEPPER
In recent decades, the white stone building at 73 Broad Street has been a home to many financial service companies: Provident Savings Bank, Prudential Securities, then Wachovia Securities, and most recently, Wells Fargo Bank.
The pattern resumes this spring with the expected arrival of OceanFirst Bank.