RED BANK: TIFFANY LEAVING BROAD STREET?
Is Tiffany & Co. vacating its store in downtown Red Bank?
A real estate listing might suggest it is. But the building owner says no… not yet, at least.
Is Tiffany & Co. vacating its store in downtown Red Bank?
A real estate listing might suggest it is. But the building owner says no… not yet, at least.
After seven years of vacancy, the former Smith Barney building at 55 Broad Street in Red Bank had apparently just landed a new tenant. And then: COVID-19.
Local officials say the usage mix and vacancy rates of upper floors downtown factors into parking needs and taxes. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
As the Red Bank council goes back to the drawing board in search of parking solutions after last year’s abandoned flirtation with five developers, local officials admit they’ve got a problem upstairs.
They don’t know how much parking to allocate for upper-floor office and residential tenants downtown. Nobody, it turns out, has been keeping tabs.
After five years of dormancy, the former Smith Barney building at 55 Broad Street in Red Bank has seen some recent activity. So what’s going on here? Read on. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
After a delay, construction of a building slated to house a pharmacy and four apartments on Shrewsbury Avenue in Red Bank is back on track, according to borough Assistant Construction Official John Drucker.
There’s new construction underway on a narrow, vacant lot on Shrewsbury Avenue in Red Bank, where a pharmacist, Ritesh Shah, won approval last year to erect a four-unit apartment building with an independently owned drugstore on the ground floor. An architect’s rendering is at right.
Shah was not immediately available for comment on the estimated completion date of the project, which is next door to Lino’s Mexican Café. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
Marcos Ramirez shows customer Chris Hawkins his haircut at the newly opened Red Bank R Barber Shop on Shrewsbury Avenue. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
[Correction: The original version of this story incorrectly reported that Playa Bowls needs variances to open. The plan has been approved and no variances were needed, according to borough officials.]
By JOHN T. WARD
Kicking off its second decade of covering the endless comings and goings of Red Bank merchants, redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn has the scoop on these churnings:
• The debut of new dance studio
• One barber shop opens, and another relocates
• The departure of a “hippie shop” and plans by a tailor to replace it
• A fruit bowl business plans to open
• RiverCenter puts a bow on 2015
All that and more awaits, just around the “read more” corner… More →
The new West Elm furniture store at West Front Street and Bridge Avenue in Red Bank opens for business at 10 a.m. Thursday. redbankgreen got inside for a sneak peak on Wednesday.
With nearly 11,000 square feet of floor space, West Elm is among the largest retailers in town by floor space. It’s one of two businesses that will anchor the new, 91-unit West Side Lofts residential project — the other being Triumph Brewing Company, slated to open early next year, according to project developer Metrovation. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
Cassie Fishkin has purchased both Mac Attack restaurants, including the one on Broad Street, and rebranded them as the Spot. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
In this edition of Retail Churn:
• A 28-year-old woman who’s already had a brief career as a lawyer has acquired both Mac Attack Cheesery restaurants — one in Red Bank and the other in Montclair — and is giving the menu a complete makeover in keeping with a dream she’s fostered since she was 16.
• Three Ocean County sisters have opened a women’s clothing store on Monmouth Street.
Letters for a West Elm sign were laid out on the sidewalk for an installer last Thursday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
In this edition of Retail Churn:
• News about Brooklyn-based boho furniture retailer West Elm‘s new store…
• a women’s clothing store called the bee plans to build a nest in a long-vacant space downtown…
• and signs of movement at the yet-to-open Chipotle Mexican Grill…
all here in beautiful Red Bank, New Jersey.
Anthony ‘Tone’ Purzycki plans to create an immersive, puzzle-driven entertainment facility in the former Dunlap Locksmith building, at right above. Below, the front door. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Where might you base a live entertainment called Trap Door Escape Room, in which participants are locked in a series of rooms and have to solve mind-bending puzzles to escape within a set time?
How about a building that already has a giant keyhole cut into the front door?
Fortunately for Anthony ‘Tone’ Purzycki and a partner, one happened to be available in Red Bank.
The facade of the approved proposed three-story structure, shown above in an architect’s sketch, replaced an earlier version, below. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Three weeks after it was panned by planning board members for sticking out like a sore thumb, a pharmacy proposed for Shrewsbury Avenue in Red Bank won approval Monday night.
The yet-to-be-named, independently owned pharmacy, which its owner said will sell medical products only, got the go-ahead after a redesign that replaced a proposed contemporary facade with with a more traditional one.
Greek Eats has signed to take the corner space, at right above, at the three-store 89 Newman Springs Road, now under construction. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
For about five years, Red Bank restaurateur George Lyristis has been developing an idea for a casual fast-food restaurant based on his ethnic heritage, he tells redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn.
Well, the time has come to make the concept real, he says. With the sale of their Zoe Bistro in Little Silver, effective Wednesday, Lyristis and his brothers Charlie and Taso are planning to open a new place called Greek Eats in Shrewsbury in coming months.
Toki Japanese Cuisine takes over the former home of the Broadway Grille, at Broad and Monmouth streets. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
This edition of Retail Churn is chock full o’ news, including:
• the opening of a sushi restaurant in the heart of downtown Red Bank
• the closing of a specialty clothing store
• a change of plans for a chocolatier
and more, right around the corner…
After a seven-year vacancy, 67 Broad Street has a new owner, who says he hopes to have a tenant in by summer. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A gaping, long-term and somewhat mysterious vacancy in the heart of downtown Red Bank appears to be nearing an end.
Jeweler Joe Romanowski, who owns two stores on Broad Street, has purchased the building at 67 Broad, next door to his Poor Cat Designs boutique, redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn has learned.
The proposed three-story structure, shown above in an architect’s rendering, would be built on a vacant lot between a two-story apartment building and a restaurant on Shrewsbury Avenue, below. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A plan for a small, independently owned pharmacy that doesn’t sell junk food got a warm welcome from the Red Bank Planning Board Monday night.
But the building it would come packaged in, and its impact on area parking, got a chillier reception.
On the agenda for Monday night’s meeting of the Red Bank Planning Board: a three-story structure with a ground-floor drugstore and four apartments above to be built on a vacant lot next door to Lino’s Mexican Café on Shrewsbury Avenue. Developer Asha Realty LLC of Freehold needs variances for the number of floors and shortfalls in both frontage and parking. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
The first-floor restaurant at red, now closed for remodeling, will reopen under a new name in coming months. The upstairs nightclub remains open on Friday and Saturday nights. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Calling his Red Bank restaurant “red” 12 years ago turned out not to be the smartest choice in the era of the search engine, Dan Lynch admits with a laugh.
But that’s not why he shut down the Broad Street restaurant for a first-floor makeover and rebranding last Saturday, he tells redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn.
Jeweler Evan Piscitelli in his new Red Bank shop, Thrill Her Diamonds. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
This edition of Retail Churn offers a belated welcome to a jewelry store that opened in downtown Red Bank in December.
Also in this Churn: a new women’s clothing boutique; a new stock brokerage; and an update on the Red Bank Walgreens.
Kate Henderson brews one of the first cups at Rook Coffee Roasters Monday morning. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Closing out a busy year, redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn delivers news of a coffee place and an art-filled nightspot, both in downtown Red Bank, and some churnings in the groves of Shrewsbury, where the perennial rumor of an Apple Computer store is again in the air.
Plans for an art gallery are out, but the Red Bank Design Center is in, opening next month at the corner of Broad Street and Harding Road. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Five months ago, a giant image of a cannabis leaf in the papered-over windows at the corner of Broad Street and Harding Road led some passersby to wonder if Red Bank was getting a medical marijuana dispensary.
Nope to dope: that was just artist David Benegas being provocatively playful about his plans to occupy the long-vacant Lamplighter space with an art gallery.
Well, those plans have now gone up in smoke. Fortunately for the landlord, however, so did Amy Manor‘s plan to create a design mecca for interior decorators over on West Front Street.
This edition of Retail Churn has the details…
After just a year and a half, Shore Scoop closes, giving way soon to Chill Bubble Tea at 15 White Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
There’s lots to report here in the 200th installment of Retail Churn, as the comings and goings of storefront businesses and restaurants on the greater Red Bank Green is as lively as we’ve seen yet.
Take it past the jump for a thumbnail tour.
The new seafood restaurant could be in operation as early as this month, a partner says. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Upping their stake in downtown Red Bank, the owners of the yet-to-open Gotham bar have acquired the former Blue Water Seafood just up the block, a partner confirmed Thursday.
Joseph Squillaro tells Retail Churn that he and his co-investors, who include a Shrewsbury anesthesiologist, hope to open both Broad Street businesses by the end of October, with the seafood restaurant rebranded as ‘Catch.’
Rook signed a lease for space long occupied by Laurel Tracey Gallery, at 10 White Street. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Rook Coffee Roasters, a rapidly expanding by-the-cup brewer with a rabid fanbase, is opening a shop in Red Bank, redbankgreen has learned.
The five-year-old Ocean Township-based chain plans to open its seventh store at 10 White Street, just a coffee-stirrer away from java behemoth Starbucks, Rook owner Holly Migliaccio tells Retail Churn.
Paint Passion took over a space in the Dublin House alley formerly occupied by a jewelry store/surfboard shop. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD & SUSAN ERICSON
Tucked away in the row of small shops next door to the Dublin House Pub in Red Bank is one of two new boutiques featured in this edition of Retail Churn: a specialty paint store called Paint Passion.
The other, located just across Monmouth Street from the pub, combines two businesses in one: vintage clothing and hot yoga.