News & Press Releases

“The boardwalk is the heart and soul of Asbury Park,” said Gary Mottola, president of Madison Marquette Investments. “We have plans to completely revitalize the boardwalk by summer.” The David Rockwell Group will be architects for construction projects, he said.

At a news conference in the Paramount Theatre Monday afternoon, Mottola surrounded himself on stage with many of the players he said will transform beachfront properties.

They included Hugh Lamle, president of M.D. Sass Investors Services, which is the lead partner of Asbury Partners and Madison Marquette’s partner in the boardwalk joint retail venture; Debbie DeLisa, whose Wonder Bar on Ocean Avenue will soon reopen; Takahiro Hirai, the popular downtown chef who plans to open an “all American” diner on the boardwalk; and Joseph Cetrulo, managing partner of the Sirena restaurant in Long Branch, who with his brother, Michael, will open a restaurant in the First Avenue Pavilion.

Mottola said his company’s joint venture with Asbury Partners also plans to complete most of the renovations of Convention Hall and Paramount Theatre this year; give police the money they need for surveillance cameras at different points in the city; form an alliance with downtown merchants; and be a source of financial and other support for Asbury Park High School Principal Tyler Blackmore as he creates new learning academies at the high school in the fall.

Mottola also said Asbury Partners has agreed to accelerate such off-boardwalk improvements as paving roads near the waterfront instead of waiting until a condominium project was ready to have residents move in. Asbury Partners also will fix the bulkhead along Wesley Lake and create 500 surface parking spaces near the beach until a parking garage is built.

“Asbury Park is a very important project for our company,” Mottola said. “Even though we have many projects across the country, this is a huge priority.”

Mottola said today’s market requires a large-scale financial commitment, not lesser individual efforts. It is that impact he’s looking for if the pavilions with the lineup of tenants are to be ready by summer.

Eatery and supper club

McLoone will open his fourth restaurant in the Shore area, taking over the Salt Water Beach Cafe in the former Howard Johnson portion of the Fifth Avenue Pavilion and creating 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.

Mottola also announced that Marilyn Schlossbach, the popular downtown Market In The Middle restaurateur, plans 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, Mottola said.

“I think everything Madison Marquette has done to date is nothing but a class act,” said Robert Ranuro, who with his brother, Steven, is a major downtown developer. “We look forward to working with Madison Marquette on the downtown, bringing the downtown and beachfront together.”

The news conference came a few weeks after Madison Marquette bought out the interests of Kushner Cos.’ stalled Wesley Lake project that included 91 condominium units, of which 22 have been sold. Madison Marquette also bought two additional city blocks Kushner owned awaiting development on lower Cookman Avenue.

Neither the mayor, City Council members nor City Manager Terence Reidy participated in Mottola’s conference. They declined to say why, except to release a statement emphasizing that Kushner had to fulfill its contractual obligations with, and promises made to, Asbury Park’s citizens.

Mottola needs the council’s approval on most of the boardwalk plans as well as the Kushner buyout.

Mottola said after the news conference that he hoped to give the city this week all of his company’s qualifications to be a subsequent redeveloper on the Kushner site. He also said his joint venture with Asbury Partners needs to negotiate a subsequent redeveloper agreement with the city for the boardwalk plans, and that Madison Marquette has to negotiate an agreement on the Kushner properties.

Mottola said Madison Marquette’s move to acquire Kushner’s land was in part a way to make the Asbury Park project work financially because it involved tremendous expense fixing up Convention Hall and the Casino.

Additionally, he said, Madison Marquette “didn’t want to be in a position of just doing the boardwalk and having no control over the rest of it,” meaning the still-undeveloped portion of Cookman Avenue near the beachfront.

“I wanted to get control of enough of the residential to have an impact,” he said.

Mottola has said in the past his company is bringing $150 million to $200 million to the city.

He said at the press conference that the accelerated effort to do all this by summer will put a strain on both developers and city officials whose approvals will be needed.

“We’re going from one speed to a much, much faster speed,” he said.

Accelerated pace

How Madison Marquette can pull all this off by summer remains to be seen. Dan DiBenedetto, chairman of the city’s Planning Board, sat on the Paramount stage and said afterward he plans to hold as many meetings as possible to have Mottola present the plans for approval.

With 18 participants on the stage, Mottola was asked why there were no African-American businesses or residents participating in a city whose population is predominantly black.

Mottola said his company wants the entire community to thrive as a result of redevelopment.

Jeffrey Fernbach, president of Paramount Homes, which is building the North Beach condominiums just north of the Berkeley Hotel, said 47 closings have taken place and an additional 60 units are under contract.

A third beachfront developer, Metro Homes, closed down its Esperanza condominium building site last month, citing the troubled mortgage industry. Reidy, the city manager, said he met last week with Metro Homes President Dean Geibel, who told the city he’s still trying to find a way to get the building financed, very probably by downsizing what was to be an expensive building.

Lamle, of Asbury Partners, said his company was “very interested in helping him (Geibel) restart the building — he got caught in this national financing debacle.”

“In the real world, a businessman says, “Things happen; it’s unfortunate; now what’s the best way to go forward?’ ” Lamle said.