A plan to redevelop a stretch of Shrewsbury Avenue in Red Bank was withdrawn almost two years ago. So why is a house on the site boarded up, with a bright red X painted on the front door?

What’s Going On Here?

The house at 240 Shrewsbury Avenue, center, is slated for demolition while a second house, at right, that was also included in the 2021 plan is not. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

Here’s what we know: the three-lot property, with one house on it and listed as 240, 242 and 244 Shrewsbury Avenue, was acquired for $750,000 in March by a limited liability company, Incredible Oz LLC. The seller was Robel Realty LLC, based in Summit.

Last month, Incredible Oz obtained a borough permit to demolish the house and a garage on the half-acre site. But no plan to develop the property has been filed, according to the office of Community Planning Director Shawna Ebanks.

The house “is not in any historic zone or on list of historic structures,” Ebanks wrote in approving the demolition request June 27. “Any new use of the property for any purpose, including parking or storage will require a separate development permit.”

So what does the new owner have planned? No clue. Incredible Oz is registered to a Holmdel address owned by Maryellen and Gil Santopadre, and the demolition permit was applied for by Alex Santopadre, but neither Maryellen nor Alex responded to redbankgreen requests for comment this week.

No abutting properties have changed hands recently, according to Monmouth County deeds.

The property was one of three lots at the southwest corner of Shrewsbury Avenue and River Street included in a 2021 plan by developer Roger Mumford that called for demolishing the house and one next door, on the corner, to build a four-story structure with 23 apartments.

He dubbed the project “The Parker at Red Bank.” Zoning board members dubbed it too tall, too dense, and too out of step with where things should be going. Neighbors said it would gentrify a low-income area.

Resistance continued even after Mumford twice reduced the scope of the project, first cutting the number of units to 20, and then lopping off an entire floor.

Mumford abruptly withdrew the application in September, 2021, just moments before an expected up-or-down vote by the zoning board, giving opponents a win.

A date for demolition was not included in the latest application. Other than the X spray-painted in a rectangle on the front door, no preparation for the razing was apparent this week.

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