A concept drawing of the proposed basement jazz bar. (Rendering by George Fett. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A food market and jazz bar proposed for downtown Red Bank won praise from the business community and approval by the zoning board Thursday night.
The former Agostino antique store space at 21 Broad Street, vacant for seven years, is the site of a proposed food market and ‘speakeasy.’ (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
On Thursday’s Red Bank busy zoning board agenda: a proposal for a downtown food market and speakeasy, plus a plan to build a new house on the site of a devastating fire, and changes outside the Two River Theater.
The long-vacant former home of Fameabilia will get one additional floor instead of two under the approval. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Downtown Red Bank may soon be home to another microbrewery.
Matawan restaurateur Florin Lupu won zoning board approval Thursday night for his plan to build one on Monmouth Street after volunteering to lop one story off a proposed two-story addition.
The Shell station at Newman Springs Road and Shrewsbury Avenue would be rebuilt with a Dunkin’ Donuts shop on site. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A bid to create a last-chance coffee stop in Red Bank for Parkway-bound commuters got underway at the zoning board Thursday night.
Among the issues: what if it’s really popular?
Two new floors are proposed for the former Fameabilia building on Monmouth Street, where a microbrewery and restaurant are planned for the first floor. (Rendering by Larry C. Johnson. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Should a one-story building in downtown Red Bank be permitted to add two floors? Should a gas station at a busy corner be allowed to add a Dunkin’ Donuts shop to its site?
Those questions are scheduled to go before the borough zoning board at its first meeting of 2019 Thursday night.
The building, formerly home to Fameabilia store, has been vacant since October, 2008. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The fate of a microbrewery proposed for a long-vacant storefront in downtown Red Bank appeared cloudy Thursday night.
The hangup? The two floors of apartments the landlord wants to add to the one-story building.
What should become of Anchorage Park, the 1.2-acre sliver of riverside land at the foot of the Route 520 bridge in Sea Bright?
Acquired by the borough after Hurricane Sandy left the Anchorage Apartments uninhabitable in 2012, the now-vacant site may be eligible for grant money. But first, borough officials are asking for public input: should it be developed, along the lines of the concept shown above? Planted with grass and left at that?
A public discussion of the matter has been scheduled for Tuesday, March 15 at 6 p.m. at borough hall. The regular council meeting will follow at 7 p.m. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A Little Silver burglary earlier this month led to the arrest last week of a Neptune Township man on charges he stole more than $1 million worth of goods from Monmouth County homes over the last three years, Little Silver Chief Dan Shaffery said Wednesday.
“Diligent work” by borough Detective Greg Oliva resulted in a “jackpot” discovery of stolen goods that included a $5,000 bottle of Scotch and a 24-karat gold Zippo lighter autographed by late comedian Bob Hope, Shaffery told redbankgreen.
Sea Bright’s Anchorage Apartments, left uninhabitable by the converging waters of the Atlantic Ocean and Shrewsbury River in Hurricane Sandy, were demolished Saturday. Using Green Acres funding, the state plans to buy the complex, at the anchorage of the Rumson-Sea Bright Bridge, and turn it into a 1.2-acre park. At right: during the October, 2012 hurricane, a utility pole became lodged in one of the first-floor units. (Photo above by Kenny Katzgrau. Click to enlarge)
The Monmouth Day Care Center’s annual on Touch-a-Truck fundraiser at the Red Bank Middle School offered up a photo-op bounty for parents Saturday. Not only did the kids get to touch the trucks, they got to sit in the driver’s seats of a limo, an Army jeep and a police car. They honked horns, asked for keys so they could drive, and went home with memories – which the photos taken by mom and dad will surely jog later in life. (Photos by Susan Ericson. Hover over picture to pause slideshow.)
Team captain Evan Fitzgerald scoring the game-winning try as Red Bank-based Monmouth Rugby Football Club beat Buffalo, 28-25, and took the Empire GU championship at Thompson Park in Lincroft Saturday. More details about the match are here.
Monmouth plays next weekend in New York City against New Haven RFC, winner of the New England Rugby Union, in the first round of the Division 2 national championship tournament. (Photo by Jack Heidelberger. Click to enlarge)
Andrew Poulson of Red Bank-based Monmouth Rugby Football Club scoring against Union in Thompson Park Sunday during the Empire GU semifinals. Monmouth trounced Union, 81-24, and faces Buffalo in the final on Saturday, April 26, at home. (Photo by Jack Heidelberger. Click to enlarge)
The family of a motorcyclist killed in a crash on West Front Street in Middletown last September is pressing the Monmouth County Prosecutor to bring charges against a motorist, NJ.com reported Tuesday.
According to a press release issued two days after the September 4 crash by township police, 69-year-old Raymond Depalma was travelling eastbound on West Front Street when he was struck by a westbound vehicle attempting to make a left turn onto Harbor Green Circle.
Depalma was flown by helicopter to Jersey Shore Medical Center in Neptune, he died five hours after the 3 p.m. crash
The driver of the other vehicle, Daniella Coccurello, 23, of Lincroft, was not immediately charged, police said at the time.
But Joel DePalma, one of Robert DePalma’s four sons, told NJ.com that Coccurello was issued a summons for using a phone while driving. He also said it’s undisputed that his father was not violating any traffic laws.
DePalma tells NJ.com that he and other family members have been asking the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office whether criminal charges will be filed, but aren’t getting answers.
‘Diner,’ above, by Demtrius Patterson, seen below with art appreciator Sharon Bergholm. (Photo by Sarah Klepner. Click to enlarge)
By SARAH KLEPNER
Dozens of people passed through Red Bank’s Art Alliance of Monmouth County gallery Saturday night, studying the works on display for the opening of its monthly exhibit.
Men from Little Silver, Sea Bright and Shrewsbury Township were among 22 arrested in recent days as part of “a well-organized gambling enterprise” that grossed $1 million a week, authorities said Tuesday morning.
An 18-month investigation dubbed “Operation Shore Bet” culminated Monday with the arrest of 22 suspects, the seizure of a dozen vehicles, more than $500,000 in cash, and the freezing of financial accounts used to facilitate the illegal activity, according to an announcement by Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni.
The enterprise, allegedly run by men in Monmouth Beach and Hillsborough, extended from Monmouth County into New York State, and allegedly used “sophisticated electronic resources including websites to track illegal wagering and record profits and losses,” as well as money-laundering schemes, Gramiccioni said.
The Anchorage Apartments were left uninhabitable by Hurricane Sandy, which deposited a utility pole in the living room of one unit, below. (Click to enlarge)
The storm-wracked Anchorage Apartments complex in Sea Bright would become a beach parking lot under a plan being considered by state officials, the Star-Ledger reported Tuesday morning.
Located on Ocean Avenue at the foot of the Route 520 Rumson-Sea Bright Bridge and mere feet from the Shrewsbury River, the single-building complex is seen as a partial solution to a parking shortage that has vexed efforts to open up North Beach oceanfront to visitors.
Razing the property would come at a tradeoff for the town: the loss of a $45,000-a-year tax ratable. But Mayor Dina Long tells the Sledger that’s alright.
Repairs on the Rumson-Sea Bright Bridge may take up to two weeks longer to complete than previously anticipated, but will allow for traffic flows on weekends. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A compromise to a widely criticized plan to shut down the Rumson-Sea Bright Bridge for three weeks starting this weekend January 28 was reached Tuesday, town officials said.
Under the compromise, repair work on the bridge will be halted on Friday afternoons and resume on Monday mornings, with the Shrewsbury River span remaining open to traffic throughout the weekends.
“It’s a win-win-win,” said an ecstatic Chris Wood, whose restaurant, Woody’s Ocean Grille, is scheduled to reopen for business Wednesday for the first time since Hurricane Sandy slammed into the shore, wiping out every business in town.
With power on along the west side of Broad Street, Starbucks was packed with laptoppers at noon Thursday. Below, an unidentified man tapped into the grid courtesy of a vacant storefront. (Click to enlarge)
They’re hungry for power.
With tens of thousands of homes still without electricity on the Red Bank area, data-starved residents are swarming facilities with electricity, wifi and, ideally, coffee Thursday.
Starbucks in Red Bank was packed at noon, nearly 24 hours after power was restored to parts of the downtown.
Other businesses are encouraging the public to stop by and charge up.
Ship Ahoy Beach Club appears heavily damaged, as seen from the bridge. Below, Ocean Avenue looking north during the storm Monday. (Photo below by Peter Lindner. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Hurricane Sandy devastated Sea Bright Monday, bashing beach clubs and stores from the ocean side, flooding from the river side, and leaving an avenue of deep sand more than a mile long along Ocean Avenue, witnesses said.
As of early Tuesday afternoon, police were still barring entry to the sandbar borough, citing dangers that included downed power lines and natural gas leaks.
But in interviews with redbankgreen, witnesses — including two holdouts who defied a mandatory evacuation order and rode out the storm in their homes — spoke of far-reaching destruction.
“Chapel Beach Club that’s gone,” said weekly Two River Times news photographer Scott Longfeld, who was permitted into town. “Every club except for Surfside is destroyed.”
Just two days ago, it was riding high, towed around on the Navesink by a boater whose identity redbankgreen doesn’t know. By Monday, though, a custom-built anti-Obama floating ad was underwater at a dock in Red Bank.
Should we read anything into this about next week’s presidential election? And if so, who is sunk: Obama or Nobama? (Photo above by Michael McMahon; at right, by Dan Natale. Click to enlarge)
Strong winds peeled back the roofing atop the Grandville Tower high rise on Morford Place in Red Bank Monday afternoon, leaving it flapping over the edge of the 10-story building. (Photo by Ken Kalada. Click to enlarge)
Fido gets one of his most pressing needs tended to on East Front Street in Red Bank during a Hurricane Sandy downpour Monday afternoon. (Click to enlarge)
Emergency workers closed a stretch of Sycamore Avenue in Shrewsbury around 2 p.m. Monday after a tree limb took down some wires. An auto accident apparently occurred nearby, with a mistaken initial report of an entrapment, though it was not immediately clear if the two incidents were related, police Chief Lou Ferraro told redbankgreen. (Click to enlarge)
Yestercades owner Ken Kalada shared this shot of Marine Park, Red Bank. (Photo by Ken Kalada. Click to enlarge)
redbankgreen readers Ken Kalada and Deb Smith sent us these storm shots taken early Monday.
Have you got one you’d like to share? Feel free to email it to us, full-sized, with info about when and where it was taken, and who if anyone should be credited.
