Below, you'll find the text to an email that I just received from Hugh R. Lamle, President M. D. Sass Investors Services, Inc. in response to an email I sent to him. His comments are within the quotation marks as answers to my questions.
Dear Mr. Pitzer: Below, I have inserted comments related to each of your concerns. I appreciate your concerns, but must respectfully disagree with your conclusions about the progress we are making and its pace. Please pardon the informality of this response. All the best, Hugh From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:] ? Sent: Tuesday, August 22, 2006 3:34 PM? To: MDSass? Subject: question for Hugh R. Lamle about Asbury Partners progress Dear Mr. Lamle, Greetings. I'm a resident of Asbury Park. I love my city, but I'm very dismayed about the slow rate of progress on some of your construction projects. Specifically, I'm very upset about the appalling condition of several sites that Asbury Partners is in control of. Take the block north of the Stone Pony. It has been a heap of rubble for years now. "This is where our rock crushing operation is set up. This is the largest contiguously AP owned, vacant, and centrally located property in the WRZ where we can set up such an operation. The product of the crushing operation is a recycled material that we use in paving the streets. This is a sustainable practice that will ultimately help to create smooth driving surfaces which you will directly and frequently benefit from. Please note that the current land use and condition is not as unsightly as the vacant and decrepit Albion Hotel which stood on that block prior to the crushing operation. Crushing the materials from the old C8 building and using them for paving materials is the most environmentally responsible use for these materials and trucking them off sight and then back on sight would be both expensive and noisy." The next block over is no better. When does Asbury Partners intend to clean these sites up? "This will continue to be in operation for most of the infrastructure construction phasing which we expect to last at least two more years" . You must realize, we live here now. We deserve to live in an attractive community. Also, if you intend to attract future residents to the condos you are building, wouldn't you want to show the city in a better light? "With any redevelopment on this scale, there is a period of time when the site is under construction and is not 100% aesthetically appealing. Keep in mind that the waterfront was blighted for several decades and was unsightly for most, if not all, of that time." The beach area should be an attractive area, but it's not. It looks like a war zone. "This is an unfortunate side affect of overhauling the existing infrastructure systems that is currently inadequate and antiquated,. We are investing $60 million to completely rebuild the infrastructure and, new road, landscaping etc. We know of no other project of this size that has progressed faster ." I've seen many construction sites in my lifetime, and many of them make attempts to blend into their surroundings. That's not what I'm seeing in Asbury. "I would imagine that most sites you're referring to aren't 56 acres and in an active urban environment. Single building sites can be more easily disguised by scaffolding and signage." Honestly, I'm embarrassed to invite friends to come visit me in Asbury. I have many affluent friends in towns such as Montclair, New York and others, but I'm not really proud to show off the mess that Asbury Partners is creating. "Although we sympathize with your desire to redevelop Asbury asap, please note that the "mess" is temporary, and it is a byproduct of the multi $100's of millions of investment that's being poured into your community at no direct economic expense to you or your neighbors. These conditions are always associated with large scale development such as the Meadowlands and Ground zero in NY." The whole redevelopment project is progressing at a snail pace. "Please consult Long Branch to compare our progress versus theirs (from a redevelopment commencement through initial construction phases perspective). You will find that we are moving at lightning pace when compared to comparable projects in the State." I've seen other communities such as Edgewater, New Jersey accomplish much more in a fraction of the time that what's happening here. "I'm not familiar with that project, although you should obviously understand that the context of Edgewater's redevelopment is very different given their proximity to major metro areas and the fact that it has never seen the extent of blight that Asbury has." I do understand that Asbury has been in a bad state for decades, but that is not an excuse for what is happening now. "You can't simply ignore the past altogether though and the fact that we are rebuilding the entire electric and water systems." If Asbury Partners intends to win the support of the people who live here now, they really need to make a greater effort. "We're open to suggestions as to how to garner your support. We think we deserve it for the wonderful environment we are creating at a very fast pace compared to every other project of its scale." If possible, I'd like to request that you provide me with a timetable for your redevelopment project, and specifically I'd like to know when you intend to clean up the mess you are creating. "Again, we sympathize with your sense of urgency for the area's redevelopment, but we don't feel it is appropriate to use such a tone to describe the temporary side affects of redevelopment related construction. We are progressing as fast as possible and are not prepared to provide firm timetables since we can not get firm timetables from all the state and city agencies that must approve each phase of the project." "This is our estimated timeline for redevelopment but these are subject to substantial changes due to regulatory, environmental, economic and weather issues: 0. 2006/2007 Wesley Lake Phase 1 and North Beach Phase 1 construction should be completed, sites cleaned, units occupied. 0. Every 18-24 months, we expect that the next phases of these projects (4 for Westminster and 5 for Paramount) should be completed. There will be continuous construction during the buildout of these phases. 0. 2008 Metro Homes' Esperanza should be completed, site cleaned, units occupied. Similar to Wesley Lake and North Beach, subsequent phases of Metro's construction should be constructed fdsover 4, 18-24 month phases. 0. Roadway infrastructure will be built commensurately alongside the residential construction. 2007-2010 Oceanfront retail/entertainment/hotel construction timeframe. Anticipated completion in 2010 (based on current negotiations with prospective retail developer)" Hugh R. Lamle, President M. D. Sass Investors Services, Inc. 1185 Ave of the Americas, 18th Floor New York, NY 10036 Phone: 212 730 2000 Fax: 212 843 5949 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Company Web site: WWW.MDSass.com Arubahouse web site www.arubahouse.com 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/