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REPRINTED COURTESY OF THE ASBURY PARK PRESS, A GANNETT CO. NEWSPAPER

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Developer aims to make major repairs by summer

Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 10/14/07

BY NANCY SHIELDS
COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU

ASBURY PARK — Gary Mottola got everyone’s attention this summer when he overnight transformed the old Howard Johnson’s Restaurant into the trendy Salt Water Beach Cafe and poured money into restoring the Paramount Theater.

Mottola, president of investments for Madison Marquette, brought a type of energy fueled by money to the Fifth Avenue Pavilion that the boardwalk had not seen.

Now his company, the national retail developer, is drawing up a plan to create a similar dramatic show of life in all of the boardwalk pavilions for next summer.

“We’re trying to come up with a far grander plan and more comprehensive plan that would dramatically change the boardwalk for next season and demonstrate the modest progress that we’ve made is not a flash in the pan,” Mottola said in an interview on Columbus Day. “We don’t think we’ve proven it’s a permanent plan yet.”

To spend millions of dollars to significantly fix up all of the pavilions at once could mean the developer would not complete the bandshell improvements on the top of the Fifth Avenue Pavilion at this point. The developer would need the council’s approval to change that plan and any other contractual requirements.

Mottola, who is bringing an estimated $200 million of investments to the city, did not want to reveal details of the plan now being worked on until the City Council first reviews it.

“The goal is to make a very dramatic impact,” Mottola said. “We’re hoping everything can be expedited.”

Mottola also wants to move ahead with improvements off the boardwalk, to connect the waterfront itself with the successes now evident three blocks away in the restaurants, stores and businesses downtown.

“I think Gary’s concept of building on the momentum of ‘07 and bringing life to the entire boardwalk is the way to go,” City Manager Terence Reidy said on Thursday. “It’s the formula for success.

“The summer of ‘07 really made people believers,” Reidy said. “They saw a boardwalk that is alive, a beach that is pristine. I think it really came together this summer.”

Reidy said that despite the down market that is affecting condominium sales, Asbury Park has a niche for what it can offer both on the boardwalk and downtown.

Reidy said that Mottola “really respects the plan and the city’s agreements” and will bring his new plan to the governing body.

Before the beachfront master developer Asbury Partners brought in Madison Marquette in 2006, the city had grown frustrated with the lack of money being invested to improve the boardwalk.

New contractual deadlines were negotiated. Madison Marquette and Asbury Partners formed a joint venture and this year Madison Marquette began spending money with the new restaurant, new roofs for the Casino and the Heating Plant (now being called the Power Plant), restoration of the Paramount Theater, and some upgrades to the existing pavilions.

City Manager James Bruno said he would like to see all of the pavilions significantly improved under a new plan for next spring, even though they will not be completed.

“You can’t just have one pavilion done and go to the next one, and all the lights are out and you have a dead space in the middle,” Bruno said.

“They need that whole boardwalk hopping and he’s (Mottola) right,” Bruno said. “What they want to do is exciting. It’s refreshing.”

A number of the businesses now on the boardwalk are expected to stay, some in their own location, others in smaller sites elsewhere. The cost that the concessionaires have to pay is going up, although Madison Marquette would not say how much per square foot.

“They will pay more because many basically are paying nothing now,” Walker said. “The pioneer days are over. Everyone has to function as a business.”

Walker said events will be held at Convention Hall and the Paramount throughout the winter. The developer also is moving ahead to get the Casino reopened with its food and flower markets, nightclubs and an outdoor public pavilion.

The old Heating Plant is likely to have a major restaurant with views of Wesley Lake.

However it plays out in the weeks ahead, Christina Crudup, a Neptune resident, said she could not be happier with the boardwalk’s change in fortune.

“It’s a better atmosphere,” she said sitting on one of the new benches overlooking the ocean on Columbus Day. “It’s uplifting. You have food, nice stores. You can sit here and feel safe.”