New, bigger Mega Parcel eyed by Netflix created at Fort Monmouth

OCEANPORT - After a developer backed out of redeveloping the bowling alley at Fort Monmouth, the 3-acre site in Eatontown has been wrapped into the Mega Parcel.

The new addition makes the Mega Parcel a slightly bigger 293-acre site, but it also means the public will have to wait at least another three months to find out if Hollywood giant Netflix is actually buying it.

The Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority, the state agency in charge of the former U.S. Army base's renaissance, had few other options to deal with the bowling alley, which is "sandwiched right in the middle" of the Mega Parcel, FMERA Chairman Robert Lucky said.

The bowling alley was not included in the original public bid for the Mega Parcel because Rumson-based Parker Creek Partners had bought the property last spring, before the Mega Parcel was created.

However the partners wrote FMERA on Sept. 7 and said they no longer wished to go forward with the bowling center. The group held a groundbreaking event on April 15 and began asbestos remediation before pulling out of the deal.

Bids: Netflix confirms it is bidding on Fort Monmouth 'Mega Parcel' for studio lot

FMERA said the group cited challenges in renovating and operating a bowling center while facing continued cost increases, delays and public health concerns resulting from COVID-19 that impacted the logistics of bowling alley operations.

FMERA created the Mega Parcel last summer out of several development districts in Eatontown and Oceanport after Parcel B, an 89-acre site at the fort's Route 35 entrance, failed to sell again. Parcel B was tucked into the Mega Parcel.

The public bid process began on Oct. 15. About two weeks later, Netflix, the subscription streaming service and production company, answered rumors that had been circulating since the summer by announcing that it was planning to bid on the site for a studio.

However, FMERA revealed Wednesday that it has not received any offers so far on the parcel. The bids were due by Jan. 31. FMERA has now tabled the original request for offers to purchase the Mega Parcel and will start a whole new public bid process with a new deadline that most likely will be in April.

While movie studios are a permitted use in the Mega Parcel, so are a host of other uses, including retail and residential.

The property was assessed at $54 million before the addition of the bowling alley. A new assessment value has not been made public yet. The total investment, however, will most likely will be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, considering that previous developers who bid for the smaller 89-acre Parcel B proposed investing well over $100 million.

Gov. Phil Murphy made headlines in April when he sent a letter to major production companies, including Netflix, Walt Disney Co. and Warner Bros., asking them to consider leaving Georgia in the aftermath of that state’s new voter law and film in New Jersey instead.

Netflix credited Murphy and the state’s legislative leaders for creating a business environment that’s welcomed film and television production back to New Jersey.

The world’s first film studio was part of Thomas Edison’s laboratories in West Orange —now part of the National Park Service. Years later, and before the motion picture industry moved to the warmer and stable climate of Los Angeles, the capital of American filmmaking was Fort Lee.

When Jersey Shore native Dan Radel is not reporting the news, you can find him in a college classroom where he is a history professor. Reach him @danielradelapp; 732-643-4072; dradel@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: New, bigger Mega Parcel eyed by Netflix created at Fort Monmouth