>From today's Asbury Park Press on 01/2/06 It's been three years since Asbury Park signed a redevelopers' agreement with Asbury Partners to breathe new life into the city's beachfront. Progress has been made. The boardwalk has been rebuilt, new benches and lighting have been added, and the walkway through the Casino has been opened.
But more needs to be done. The city is growing increasingly and understandably concerned about Asbury Partners' failure to proceed more quickly on the rehabilitation of the Convention Hall/Paramount Theatre complex and the Casino, and the reconstruction of the boardwalk pavilions. Even more troubling is the redevelopers' failure to come up with a well-defined game plan for enticing suitors to the retail-entertainment portion of the redevelopment zone. The city's patience is wearing thin. Asbury Partners has come up with a variety of excuses for why further progress hasn't been made, and why it has yet to attract any substantial interest in the boardwalk or to develop a coherent strategy for attracting businesses to the boardwalk. In response to what the City Council perceives as foot-dragging, it has given Asbury Partners a Jan. 18 deadline for presenting a concept plan, a budget and a time line for the redevelopment of boardwalk buildings. The request is more than reasonable. It's essential that Asbury Partners comply. Failure to do so could raise a warning flag to potential investors, residential and commercial, in the redevelopment zone. Asbury Partners can't allow that to happen. Nearly three years ago, SOSH Architects of Atlantic City, which specializes in entertainment-oriented design, developed a retail and entertainment concept for the redevelopment area that generated enormous enthusiasm. The concepts looked great on paper. SOSH's vision of a boardwalk that capitalized on Asbury Park's beachfront location, its entertainment heritage, its musical bloodlines and its artistic character made perfect sense. It still does. But the failure of Asbury Partners to advance the concept and recent indications it is turning to traditional full-time retailers to help turn the boardwalk into a year-round venue are disturbing. The revitalization of the boardwalk will not succeed by trying to fill the pavilions with retailers commonly found in malls and strip malls. Even after the oceanfront condominiums are built out, the people living in them many, no doubt, part time will not generate the "critical mass" Asbury Partners suggests is needed before retailers are willing to commit to the boardwalk. The formula for success is a boardwalk that is sustained by two things: the beach and year-round entertainment. Anchored by the Convention Hall/Paramount Theatre to the north and the Casino to the south, the boardwalk should be top-heavy with restaurants, clubs offering various types of music, performance spaces for theater and dance, indoor active entertainment for young people and high-tech gaming pavilions. An Imax theater and a New Jersey Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame and Museum also would be wonderful draws. In the off months, the only thing that will draw substantial numbers of people to the boardwalk in Asbury Park is entertainment. The traditional retail should be a complement to the entertainment, not the other way around. Asbury Partners needs to think out of the box. If it is incapable of doing so, it should hire entertainment-oriented consultants who can. The boardwalk at this point remains largely a blank canvas. It's long past time for someone to pick up the brush. At the same time, Asbury Partners needs to develop realistic leasing and construction terms that will encourage investors and businesses to dip their toes into the water, rather than discouraging them from even walking on the beach. This is a critical juncture for the redevelopment zone and the future of the city. Asbury Partners must demonstrate more creativity, more flexibility and a marketable long-term vision for the oceanfront. And it must send a clear signal to the city and potential investors that it's prepared to do so soon. E-mail E-mail article Printer Print article Subscription Subscribe Newsletters Get http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060102/OPINION/601020308/1029 Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
