Developer: Bwy. Arts will unite community
Project mgr. says arts/retail district will create over 400 jobs
BY CHRISTINE VARNO
Staff Writer

Rendering of the Broadway Arts Center.

The developers of the downtown Broadway area in Long Branch are expected to appear before the city's Planning Board this month for approval of a $315 million mixed-use redevelopment project.

At the Feb. 27 City Council meeting, council adopted resolution 50-07, approving the plans of developer Broadway Arts Center (BAC) LLC, for the first and second phases of the Broadway Arts redevelopment project.

The next step for BAC is to receive the go-ahead from the Long Branch Planning Board to develop what it calls a "historic Main Street" in the redevelopment zone, extending from Second Avenue to Memorial Parkway and from Union Avenue to the north and Belmont Avenue to the south.

"This project will really unite the community," said Patience O'Connor, the project's managing director, in an interview after the council meeting.

"There is a feeling that the beach has taken a precedence of redevelopment over the commercial corridor," she said, adding, "But this is really looking at the next generation of development."

Boarded up properties in the Broadway Arts redevelopment zone.

Plans for the first phase of the Broadway Center project are expected to be heard before the Planning Board March 20, according to O'Connor.

If approved by the board, the developer could begin construction of the project as soon as the summer, O'Connor said.

Construction for the first phase will take approximately 18 months to complete, O'Connor explained, adding that phase II will begin immediately after the first phase is constructed.

Plans call for BAC to raze the properties in the nine-acre zone and construct a mixed-use, residential, retail and arts/ entertainment project in the lower Broadway sector.

According to O'Connor, BAC has acquired 42 of the 48 properties in the zone.

Of the six property owner holdouts, three have retained an attorney and are fighting the taking of their properties through eminent domain, according to O'Connor.

The other three property owners are currently in negotiations with the developers, she said.

"We plan to go back to the attorneys [for the hold-outs] to reach an agreement," O'Connor said. "We are really committed to work out a purchase price directly and not go through eminent domain."

To date, eminent domain has not been used to acquire any property for the project, according to O'Connor.

If a settlement is not reached with the six property owners within 90 days of the council's approval of the plans on Feb. 27, the city would move to condemn the properties, O'Connor said.

"In every case we do our best to reach a negotiation," she said.

BAC is also incorporating an Incubator Retail Business Program with retail tenants currently located in the zone into the redevelopment plan, according to O'Connor.

The program is designed to allow experts retained by BAC to work on a weekly basis with current retailers on a retail plan to better serve the customer base of their business, O'Connor explained.

The project scope consists of a total of 543 residential units, with 341 units slated for market rate housing, 100 units for affordable housing and 102 units as live/work units.

"The majority of the units will be for sale, but we will include some rentals," O'Connor said.

Plans also include 41 office spaces, 180,000 square-feet of retail space and approximately 1,600 parking spaces to be divided among three parking-deck garages and street parking.

The project will be anchored by two performing arts theaters and O'Connor said upon completion, the project will provide a minimum of 440 jobs.

"A majority of the jobs will come from the retail and commercial areas in the project," she said.

BAC was designated the developer of the zone two years ago and according to a press release from BAC, the project will act as "the centerpiece of the renaissance of the commercial and entertainment corridor of Long Branch."

Principals in BAC are the Katz and Siperstein families, principles in the Siperstein's chain of home centers, and the Pereira family, owners of Pax Construction, Long Branch.

The project architect, Bill Hellmuth of Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum, Washington D.C., said at the meeting the project is "knitting the community back together."

He said that Broadway was once "a proud, thriving heart of the town, which lead down to the water.

"Over the years, that changed," he said. "We are here to bring back that character. We want to create a special sector along Broadway, anchored by theaters with vibrant retail and entertainment, as well as [residential]. We want to create a 24/7 community."

O'Connor said the Broadway redevelopment zone is different than other redevelopment projects because the developers will remain involved with the project, even after it is constructed.

"BAC is not going away," she said at the council meeting. "They are not selling the project off. They are there and they are going to stay and manage and operate the project."

Plans call for the project to be carried out in three phases, with the first phase consisting of the construction of commercial and retail areas as well as live/work units, O'Connor explained.

The retail space will be at ground level, O'Connor explained, adding that a single floor of office space will be constructed over the retail space with live/work units constructed be constructed over the offices.

"For live/work units, a resident is required to have a portion of their residence as their place of business," O'Connor said after the meeting.

"If you are an educator and you tutor at you home, it will qualify," she explained.

Phase II calls for the construction of the three parking deck garages, each to contain approximately 500 spaces, and additional residential units.

"The problem with large parking garages is that they are ugly," Hellmuth said at the meeting.

"These residential units are set back [from the road], and they are over the parking garages" he said.

"And the parking garages are lined with residential and live/work units, so you can not see them."

The city council approved the plans for the first and second phase and at this point, BAC is still working out design concepts for the third phase, according to O'Connor.

The third phase will include construction at the corners of the project, on Memorial Parkway and Liberty Street, at the west side of the redevelopment zone.

"In addition to theaters, the city, at one-time, had a thriving retail, arts district," O'Connor said.

"But now, there aren't enough to get people to cross Ocean Avenue and shop on Broadway," she said. "We want to bring retailers here and work with retailers."