Raceway Mall wins liquor
license with $1 million bid
BY LINDA DeNICOLA
Staff Writer
Freehold Township
FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP — A third new retail liquor license will be awarded at the next Township Committee meeting on Sept. 23. Free Race Mall Rest. II, LP, as the only bidder, will receive the license to provide liquor at a restaurant of its choice.
The price tag for the liquor license won by the operator of the Freehold Raceway Mall was $1 million.
In fact, the $1 million that the mall bid for the last available license is only the second highest bid accepted by the township this past year.
The highest bid, $1.013 million, was enough for Ruby Tuesday Inc. to buy a liquor license this past spring. At the time, the restaurant chain submitted the highest bid, which was just $3,000 higher than a bid submitted by Jersey Freeze Inc. of $1.01 million and substantially higher than the $876,000 bid submitted by the operators of the mall.
The availability of new retail liquor licenses has been a boon for the township.
"We’re going to set a minimum bid amount of $1 million," Mayor Raymond Kershaw said just before officials went out to bid on the third license. "Our intent is to take the money we get from these liquor licenses and put it in general surplus to control tax increases. We need something to offset a lack of funding from the state."
Kershaw said that according to the Alcohol and Beverage Control bureau, the $1.013 million fee that Ruby Tuesday paid this spring is the largest amount ever received for a liquor license in New Jersey. He attributes that to growth and development in Monmouth County.
"Everyone is interested in coming here," he said. Apparently representatives from Ruby Tuesday support that claim. According to Kershaw, they told him that the restaurant here has the highest volume of all their restaurants in the United States.
Officials said they do not know if the mall’s owners will use the new liquor license at the mall or build a restaurant somewhere else in town.
In December 2002, the committee approved the issuance of a new consumption license and turned down two applicants for a second license. The license was awarded to WHF, a subsidiary of JDN Development Corp., a developer which has an application filed with the Planning Board for a large project which includes department stores, restaurants and a hotel.
WHF plans to construct two restaurants under the one license at the proposed site of the development project, on the south side of Route 537, about a half-mile east of Stillwells Corner Road. According to Duane Davison, township attorney, the firm can do that as long as the restaurants are connected someway, with a common area like a parking lot or connected buildings.
WHF paid $600,000 for the liquor license it purchased, Township Adminis-trator Tom Antus said.