A place to live, work and play on the west side
West Side Lofts designed around transit village, pedestrian-friendly concept
BY GLORIA STRAVELLI
Staff Writer

Above, an architect’s rendering of the proposed West Side Lofts at the intersection of Bridge Avenue and W. Front Street, Red Bank. Inset, the site at present.

Ever since plans were announced for a new theater on a portion of the Blaisdell Lumber site, there has been speculation about how the remainder of the 4-acre tract on Red Bank’s Bridge Avenue would be developed.

Now that the doors of the Two River Theater are open, Metrovation has confirmed that it has won the development rights to the remaining 1.8-acre northern portion of the site bordered by West Front Street, Bridge Avenue and the new Edmund Wilson Boulevard.

Plans named simply “West Side Lofts” lay out an enlightened, mixed-use development in harmony with its Arts and Antique District location.

“We really feel this is one of the gateways to Red Bank,” said Chris Cole, East Coast partner of Metrovation. “We want that corner to look spectacular.”

The $40 million, mid-rise development is configured in four separate buildings and includes a retail/antiques component, a brew pub, 104 apartments, studio/living space for artists, a landscaped courtyard, glass-enclosed walkways between buildings and on-site parking, all in close proximity to the Red Bank Train Station.

Three of the buildings front Bridge Avenue, with one wrapping the corner of West Front Street and another fronting on that street. The artist space and the brew pub face Edmund Wilson Boulevard across from the new theater.

The high-density project will require the approval of the borough’s Zoning Board of Adjustment because its core mixed use doesn’t conform to zoning in the BR-1 Zone.

According to Cole, the project was designed as four separate structures of varying heights rather than one large-scale building, to keep it in scale with the surrounding neighborhood. The architecture, he said, aims “to respect the existing scale and mass of the neighborhood and to keep the human scale of the buildings at street level.”

The project is designed by San Francisco-based architect David Baker, an advocate for pedestrian-friendly downtowns whose West Coast projects have some of the signature design elements repeated in West Side Lofts, like decks off the apartments, interior courtyards, ground-floor retail, and an orientation to public transportation.

Design elements are also taken from the new theater as well as surrounding structures.

The project concept, Cole said, resonates with the vision for Red Bank articulated in the borough’s master plan and revisions, independent studies and the state’s Smart Growth goals.

“The goal of the project is to foster a neighborhood arts district and to continue the revitalization around the train station and encourage the use of mass transit,” he said.

MW Red Bank LLC is the contract purchaser of the property, purchased from Gemini Group for an amount Cole declined to disclose. Gemini is controlled by the Rechnitz family; Bob and Joan Rechnitz are founders of the theater company.

The site will be cleared for the new development, Cole said, which will mean the razing of several existing buildings, including the landmark yellow Monmouth Antique Center at the corner of West Front Street and Bridge Avenue. However, Danny’s Steakhouse will remain, with the project planned to be built around the two-story structure.

The project encompasses four separate two- to five-story buildings ranging from 12 to 55 feet. The residential use will be constructed around a landscaped open-space courtyard that will be accessible to the community.

The approximately 7,000 square feet of street-level retail space that will wrap Bridge Avenue and West Front Street will consist of traditional retail uses and a cluster of antique shops to retain the character of the Arts and Antique District. In addition, the project includes a 14,000-square-foot, two-story Triumph Brew Pub.

Six live-work units located at street level along Edmund Wilson Plaza, facing the new theater, will provide studio, gallery and living space to support local artists. Cole said he is working with the Monmouth County Arts Council on details like the cost of the space, which he said would be subsidized.

The residential units will include 55 one-bedroom and 55 two-bedroom apartments ranging from 750 to 1,500 square feet. Design features include tall windows, window seats and outside decks. Projections are that some 215 people will occupy the apartments, described as an “alternative housing option for professional adults that will enhance and diversify the housing inventory.”

The project includes a 238-space parking deck designed to be hidden from street view by the taller buildings. Access to parking is via an alleyway off West Front. Plans call for parking to be shared by the residential and retail components of the development; although not permitted by existing zoning, the arrangement would minimize the impact on local parking demand, Cole noted.

The neighborhood vision for West Side Lofts, Cole said, resonates with a series of studies undertaken for the borough, beginning with the 1995 master plan and a subsequent independent review commissioned by the borough, which recommended creating residential development, on-site parking, street-level retail space designed specifically for arts and antique shops, promoting a pedestrian-friendly environment and use of public transit. State Smart Growth and Transit Village objectives that support residential density near the train station are also supported.

According to Cole, the recommendations of all the studies point to the same initiatives but were never incorporated in the zoning code, which means variances are required to make the vision a reality.

A development permit was denied on April 6 by the Red Bank Planning and Zoning director on the basis that the mix of uses is not permitted in the BR-1 zone, so the proposed project requires a D variance. Director Donna Barr also said the innovative use doesn’t meet the definition of garden apartments, apartment houses, townhouses or dwelling apartments in zoning ordinances, and the project’s density — floor area ratio — exceeds that permitted, also requiring a D variance.

Barr bifurcated the application, ruling that the zoning board must first decide on a variance for the mixed use, and, if approved, the applicant will have to then seek major site plan approval. A hearing date is expected to be set in the near term.

Project developer MW Red Bank LLC is a partnership of Metrovation, a prime mover in the development of downtown Red Bank since 1996, and Woodmont Properties, a Parsippany-based regional developer with experience in urban redevelopment whose principal is Donald Witmondt.

Red Bank-San Francisco- Seattle-based Metrovation, formerly Terranomics Development, has developed key downtown properties like the Smith Barney building and the architecturally re-imagined 21 E. Front St. unveiled this week.

Cole has spent the past several weeks in community outreach, pitching the proposed project, getting the message out that West Side Lofts’ mixed use and unique and varied architecture “encourages a vibrant, engaged neighborhood.”

“The goal of the project is to foster a neighborhood arts district and to continue the revitalization around the train station and encourage the use of mass transit.”

He also conveys the message that existing zoning would permit construction of a monolithic building at a height of 55 feet that would loom over the corner of Bridge and West Front. The project description points out that several large projects have already been approved within a block of West Side Lofts, including a five-story, 100,000-square-foot office building with a separate parking garage.

“The whole evolution of development throughout the country is toward mixed-use transit villages with people incorporating public transportation into their daily lives,” said Cole. “There’s less congestion on the streets, and high density creates a sense of energy. People love being there because there’s always some activity around the site.”