Update due on beachfront redevelopment Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 02/15/06 BY NANCY SHIELDS COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU
ASBURY PARK A recommendation to continue negotiations with Asbury Partners to establish time frames, financial requirements and penalties for missed deadlines in the push to upgrade the city's historic beachfront buildings and boardwalk pavilions is expected at tonight's City Council meeting. Two weeks ago, the council approved a resolution calling for a draft amendment to the waterfront plan to be ready by tonight's meeting. If ongoing negotiations did not work, the city had the option of holding the developer in default on a section of the 2001 contract that states "all exteriors (of the pavilions) will be upgraded within three years of the date of this agreement." City Manager Terence Reidy said Tuesday the negotiating subcommittee -- which includes two of the five council members, Deputy Mayor Jim Bruno and Councilman Ed Johnson -- will report tonight on the status of the negotiations to the governing body during executive session and afterward to the public. Bruno said the two sides met face to face for the first time Monday after working separately on demands the previous week. He indicated the council may give the negotiations more time. "Negotiations on the entire (2001) agreement took nine months," Bruno said. "I think it's impossible to have a deal cut in one day." Bruno said he and Johnson are the only council members who know what's on the table and that they'll make their report to the full council and then to the public. "These negotiations are the most important discussions we have had with Asbury Partners since we signed the original agreement," Bruno said, reading a statement prepared for the media. "We have to stick to the issues, maintain confidentiality. . . . There's no room for amateurs at a time like this. The future of the city is on the line." The meeting on Monday included both Larry Fishman, chief operating officer of Asbury Partners, and his brother, Glen Fishman, the managing partner. "We are on track, maintaining our obligations, working with the city, and continuing to move forward," Larry Fishman said through a spokeswoman. New homes going up Asbury Partners, often called the master developer, brought in three developers to build condominiums and town homes on the beachfront: Kushner Co.'s Westminster Communities of Florham Park, Paramount Homes of Jackson and Metro Homes of Hoboken. Construction is under way on two sites, as is an estimated $60 million project to upgrade streets, cable, telephone, electric, gas and sewer lines. Asbury Partners completed construction of a new boardwalk last year. But increasingly in recent months, the council became frustrated with the lack of investment in and renovation of Convention Hall-Paramount Theatre complex, the Casino, the boardwalk heating plant and five pavilions, all now owned by Asbury Partners and slated to be part of the entertainment and retail portion of the $1.2 billion project. A recent breakdown in negotiations between Asbury Partners and Metro Homes to renovate the Fifth Avenue (Howard Johnson) Pavilion and a delay in getting new windows installed at Convention Hall were two of the issues bringing the issue of default to a head. Asbury Partners tried three years ago to market the boardwalk buildings but could not find investors. Most recently, Larry Fishman said he believed the sales of the new condominiums and an influx of people living in those new homes will help create the market for retail uses. But residents are growing restless. Daniel Sciannameo, a New York City appraiser who owns a home in Asbury Park, said Tuesday he wants the council to hold Asbury Partners in default and wants "Asbury Partners to get a boot out of the entire city." "Asbury Partners has neither the experience, will or ability to develop this city," Sciannameo said. "I would want a default because the city has nothing to lose to start the clock." If the city declares a default, Asbury Partners would have a specific period of time to cure that default. Verizon work halted In a related development Tuesday, some residents raised concerns that Verizon workers had stopped working on upgrading telephone lines. Bruno said he'd been informed by letter that Verizon said it was owed money. "But there's two sides of the story and Asbury Partners has a legitimate claim and I think it will be worked out," he said. Skip Cimino, senior executive vice president of Schoor DePalma, Asbury Partners' engineers on the waterfront, said Tuesday that Verizon has not left the project. "We are trying to work in continued cooperation to ensure there are no delays in construction," Cimino said. "Everyone is cognizant that at the end of May a significant season starts in any New Jersey community, so it goes to the economic incentives for everyone. . . . We're confident that the community will be fine." http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060215/NEWS/60215001 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/
