RED BANK: BNE PUSHES ‘APPROPRIATE SCALE’

Jonathan Schwartz, right, and Jack Tycher of BNE Canoe with a rendering of their proposed White Street project. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Among the contenders for the right to develop Red Bank’s White Street parking lot site, BNE Real Estate Group  and Canoe Brook Development can do it all in-house, a principal in the Livingston-based partnership said Wednesday night.

Their proposal calls for a seven-story, 704-vehicle garage that would be built “as fast as possible” enroute to a project that includes 204 rental apartments and no retail space, principal Jack Tycher told the borough parking committee.

“We chose not to include retail, since the point of the project was to support existing retail,” he said.

Ninety-eight spaces in the proposed garage, at the eastern end of the redevelopment site, would be needed for renters, he said.

The residential portion, at six stories, “would be as appropriate in scale as possible to the downtown,” Tycher said.

All commercial buildings along Monmouth Street that back up against the White Street would continue to have rear access to their properties, Tycher said.

Another principal, Jonathan Schwartz, emphasized BNE’s bona fides as builder: established in 1955, it has constructed Manhattan high-rises and suburban apartment complexes, always with the aim of keeping them in its portfolio, he said. The firm has built more than 25,000 residences in New Jersey, he said.

It also has its own in-house construction company and “we’re not relying on any outside money,” he said.

The firm is building 272 rental units near the Aberdeen train station and doing a redevelopment project in Harrison, he said.

Here’s BNE’s complete submission made in April in response to the RFP, with sensitive financial information redacted by the borough.

And here’s redbankgreen‘s coverage of each of the other presentations:

Bijou

Dobco

Mill Creek Residential

Yellow Brook