convert office space
to apartments
Owners wants to add floor,
convert office space
to apartments
BY GLORIA STRAVELLI
Staff Writer
The new owners of 34-32 Broad St. in downtown Red Bank, the former site of Prown’s Has Everything, are proposing a $3 million renovation. The overhaul would add a fourth story to the building and create seven residential apartments on the upper floors.
New owners of 34-32 Broad St. in downtown Red Bank are proposing a $3 million renovation that would add a fourth story to the building and create seven residential apartments on the upper floors.
The retail space formerly occupied by Prown’s Has Everything will be leased to a retail bank tenant, attorney Gordon Gemma told members of the Red Bank Zoning Board last week.
The application for preliminary and final major site plan approval submitted by 34-32 Broad Street LLC seeks variances including height, 50 feet permitted while 58 feet is proposed; minimum unoccupied open space, 10 percent required, none proposed; maximum lot coverage, 65 percent required, 76 percent proposed; and parking, 42 spaces required, 7 proposed.
Principals in 34-32 Broad St. LLC are James Fusco of New York, William Oliver of Chatham, and Michael Rovere of Red Bank. According to the borough Tax Assessor’s Office, the developers paid $1.8 million for the three-story building, which is assessed at $612,700.
Engineer Douglas Bartels told the board that adding a fourth floor and increasing square footage on the second level would add 3,000 square feet to the circa 1883 building.
According to the applicants, the added space would offset the loss of space due to installation of an elevator and would enhance the financial viability of the project.
There was no vote at the Feb. 5 meeting. Board member Marie Murphy, a Realtor, recused herself to avoid a potential conflict of interest regarding the bank tenant, leaving the board, with six members present, short of a quorum. The vote was carried to the March 4 meeting.
The 19,000-square-foot building located in the CCD-2 zone has had retail/office use on the first floor and commercial office space on the second and third floors.
Bartels said plans call for 5,125 square feet of retail space at street level, three apartments on the second story, two on the third, and two apartments on the new fourth story. An elevator and two stairways will provide access to the upper floors. Basement space would be used for storage.
The condominium apartments, Fusco said, would be marketed at around $400,000 per unit. Described as efficiency apartments, units will be 1,200 to 1,400 square feet and are designed as open spaces with kitchens open to the living/sleeping area and the only walls enclosing bathroom space. Fourth-floor units will have loft sleeping areas and skylights.
"They are designed for a certain type of urban user," explained Fusco, "typically young, married professional couples who don’t want a house … people who work and want to live not in a totally urban environment like New York City."
"The apartments will be a loft space similar to the way industrial buildings have been rehabilitated in New York," explained architect Jay Bargmann of Rafael Vinoly Architects, New York. "The rooms will be defined by furniture, not walls."
Bartels told the board the building is currently 43 feet high and the proposed 58-foot height is consistent with neighboring structures like 40 Broad St. to the south, which is 50 feet in height, and 12 Broad St. to the north, which is a five-story structure in excess of 60 feet in height.
Set 15 feet back from the existing facade, the fourth-floor addition will not be visible from Broad Street, Bargmann said.
The addition will have a metal roof that slopes to the rear and a stucco exterior.
"The intent was to recess and hide the addition and keep the appearance of 50 feet in height," he explained. "You will not see there’s an addition to the building from Broad Street. The design intent was to restore the facade of the 1883 building and not intrude on that with new construction. We are seeking to maintain the integrity of the facade."
The front facade design will restore the original exterior appearance including recessing the storefront and rebuilding the original cornice and lintels, replacing windows and restoring historic colors, he said.
"The building is part of a distinctive row of buildings and forms a link in the streetscape," Bargmann told the board. "It’s definitely a link that could use improvement."
Plans for the building fall short of recreational area called for by borough ordinance. The application proposes that deck and balcony space provided in the redesign be considered as recreational space in lieu of the 250 square feet required per unit.
The design calls for a 40-foot wrought iron terrace off the third floor rear apartment.
A 900-square-foot courtyard area located one story above grade atop a portion of the building that juts out into the parking lot will provide open space for two second-story apartments. Apartments on the fourth story have access to a rooftop terrace.
Discussion of the parking shortfall and the amount of the required contribution to the Municipal Parking Utility Fund were not resolved at the meeting.
The parking demand breakdown is 18 spaces for the retail use and 7 spaces for the residential units.
According to Bartels, the deficiency is actually less than the shortfall that existed when Prown’s operated in the building and usage was more intense.
Fusco told the board each unit should come with the provision of one parking space.
Gemma argued that at least two spaces historically used by Prown’s customers should be available to the development on a fee or license basis. The issue was expected to be on the Borough Council agenda this week.