Applied Development Corp. President David Barry explains features of the proposed Pier Village phase III beachfront development to the Long Branch City Council on April 27. KENNY WALTER LONG BRANCH — Developers presented a plan for a mixed-use hotel/residential/ retail complex in the city’s Pier Village III redevelopment zone last week.
The City Council gave the project the go-ahead at the April 27 workshop meeting, with the council voting unanimously in favor of a resolution approving the development.
The developers must now apply to the Planning Board for the necessary approvals for the project, which will be located on 7 acres of land bound by Melrose Terrace to the north, Morris Avenue to the south, Ocean Avenue to the east and Ocean Boulevard to the west.
Landscape Architect Tom Bauer, of Melillio and Bauer, explained that one of the components of the plan is to repair and expand the boardwalk.
“It is in great need of repair, and it will expanded, enlarged and rebuilt as part of this proposal,” he said.
Bauer said the proposed project will contain four buildings: a building with a parking structure, a hotel, a one-story retail complex with residences above, and a onestory retail complex with other activities on the rooftop.
“The building will have a green roof, basically a wildflower garden on top, and all the benefits that come with having a green roof,” he said. “Rooftop access could be additional retail, it could be rooftop dining — it is to be determined.”
Bauer also said that some creative construction would create the illusion that the hotel is on an island surrounded by the other buildings.
“We’ve created an island where the hotel will be constructed,” he said. “It is a 72- room hotel.
“It is the focal point of everyone driving southbound, as well as everyone driving northbound.”
David Barry, president of Applied Development Corp., explained some of the benefits to the city that the project will create.
“The expansion of the boardwalk, additional beach access, 45,000 square feet of additional retail,” he said. “We are also going to finalize improvements to Ocean Boulevard on the western side of Pier Village.
“We will bring additional jobs to the area and … we are very confident that this will be another great addition to Pier Village.”
“We’d like to expand the hotel component of pier village by adding another hotel,” he added. “We are committed to making this phase of Pier Village the best phase yet.”
Greg Russo, senior vice president of Applied, said that once the project is completed, there will be numerous permanent jobs created.
“We estimate around 400 to 500 permanent jobs between the retail, the hotel and the residential,” he said.
Barry and Bauer said the project will include a family component, including a carousel and family-oriented retail.
“It is not going to be amusement focused, but there will be a couple of things in that direction so we can broaden the experience,” Barry said.
“The greatest component of this project is that there are tremendous public amenities,” Bauer said. “The emphasis has to do with a family aspect.”
Bauer reflected on the group’s history of working with the city.
“It is hard to believe that it has been 10 years since we presented the first phase and five years since we presented the second,” he said. “It is a dramatic and dynamic landscape that exists here, and we will continue it.”
Bauer said that the majority of rooms in the hotel will have views of the ocean, and much of the dinning and retail components will be right on the boardwalk.
“You have the look and feel of shopping and dinning on the boardwalk,” he said.R
usso said the developer is still readying estimates on how much the project will cost, but he doesn’t expect financing to be much of a problem.
“Financing will be available; the question is, what will the terms be,” he said.
At the council meeting, resident Vincent Lepore asked city attorney James Aaron whether the development could proceed in light of a recent court decision that ruled the blight designation underlying the city’s redevelopment plan is invalid.
In an interview Monday, Aaron said the decision would have no effect on the project.
Applied has already constructed a $100 million mixed-use project in the first phase of the Pier Village redevelopment zone.
The first phase was constructed on a 10-acre tract on the waterfront stretching from Laird Street to Melrose Terrace.
The second phase included approximately 240 units in four buildings on a tract of land on Ocean Boulevard, to the west of the first phase of the project.
The mixed-use second phase contained 5,000 square feet of retail space and 189 public parking spaces along the oceanfront.
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