Developer gets OK for boardwalk pavilions
BY NANCY SHIELDS COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU FEBRUARY 5, 2008
ASBURY PARK The city Planning Board gave the go-ahead with certain
conditions
for developer Madison Marquette to begin building or reconstructing four
boardwalk
pavilions.
The approvals for three pavilions involved a showdown of sorts between Madison
Marquette and city planners over where the developer would provide public
restrooms.
Madison Marquette said it would put restrooms in a beach club to be built on
the former
Second Avenue pavilion site. However, the restrooms would be open for free to
the
general public only if state Green Acres officials said they could not put the
restrooms on
open space between the pavilions, the developer said.
Board members insisted on public restrooms in the Second Avenue beach club.
"Look, I appreciate everything you do, and all of this is going to be talked
about at the
council but you have to provide public bathrooms," said City Councilman John
Loffredo, a
board member.
Residents Werner Baumgartner, Maureen Nevin, Pamela Lamberton and Jim Henry
were
among those who insisted there be public restrooms in the pavilions and not
free-
standing units.
The lawyer for Madison Marquette, Steven R. Tombalakian, argued against the
request
until John Lanham, senior vice president of development for the company,
indicated the
developer would provide the restrooms.
The outcome of that skirmish was important because some observers feared that
if
Madison Marquette encountered too many obstacles in its multi-million dollar
plans, it
would back out of the project.
The board approved plans for permanent renovations for the First Avenue
pavilion and
temporary improvements for the site of the former Second Avenue pavilion, where
a
beach club would be built, and for the Third Avenue pavilion. More extensive
work could
be done to the latter two pavilions in the next few years.
The board also approved work on the Fifth Avenue pavilion but is requiring
minor
architectural changes.
Madison Marquette, in a joint venture with Asbury Partners to develop the
retail and
entertainment portion of the waterfront, plans to fill the pavilions with
shops, restaurants
and nightclubs by Memorial Day.
New tenants include restaurant owner and entertainer Tim McLoone, who is taking
over
both levels of the former Howard Johnson's restaurant in the Fifth Avenue
pavilion. He will
open his fourth restaurant in the Shore area at the site and create a supper
club on the
second floor. He said the downstairs restaurant will open in a couple of
months. The
upstairs will take a little longer because an elevator has to be installed.
Plans also call for Marilyn Schlossbach, the popular downtown Market In The
Middle
restaurateur, to open a Mexican restaurant and surf shop on the boardwalk.
Russell Lewis,
an owner with Paul Connolly of Baker Boys Bakery in Ocean Grove, will open a
new Baker
Boys on the boardwalk as well as a new nightclub there. Both Brielle Cyclery
and Kathy
Mongiello's boardwalk panini shop will expand.
A second issue considered by the board Monday night was Madison Marquette's
request to
use some of the sidewalk space between the pavilions for stairways to second
floors. The
board did not agree, with officials saying the stairways can be put inside the
buildings.
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