RED BANK: NEW OFFICE FEELS LIKE OLD HOME
With landscaping and exterior detail work still in progress, John Smallwood, below, moved his financial advisory firm into 199 Broad Street last week. (Photo above by Trish Russoniello; below by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
More than a year later, John Smallwood still shakes his head in disbelief when he thinks about the appraiser who advised him to tear down the century-old Red Bank mansion he was about to buy and rehabilitate for use as office space.
For one thing, the comment betrayed astonishing ignorance of zoning law, Smallwood said: with just 60 feet of frontage on Broad Street, a new structure would have to be sliver-thin to accommodate setbacks and access to the parking out back.
More than that, though, was the appraiser’s failure to appreciate both the real and intangible value of the structure, at 199 Broad.
“I was really offended” by the suggestion, Smallwood told redbankgreen. “He just didn’t get what we have here.”