Holmdel to consider former Nokia annex near Horn Antenna a condemnation area in need of redevelopment

The Holmdel planning board voted 5-1 to recommend that parts of Crawford Hill located at 791 Holmdel Rd. qualify as a condemnation area in need of redevelopment. The developer Crawford Hill Holdings, owned by Rakesh Antala, objected, citing fears that the township could use the redevelopment process to take private property through eminent domain.

In August, the township committee voted to invoke eminent domain if negotiations to buy the property fail for the lots surrounding the area in the redevelopment study.

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On tax maps, the area is designated block 27, lots 6, 6.01 and 7. The Horn Antenna, which was instrumental in providing evidence of the Big Bang, resides on lot 6. Both lot 6 and 6.01 are part of the current negotiations with the township and consist mostly of open space.

The property that the planning board voted to recommend to the township committee as a condemnation area in need of redevelopment is lot 7, where the former Nokia Crawford Hill Facility resides.

The property was part of the old AT&T monopoly. In the 1960s, AT&T built the Bell Labs facility, which is now home to the office complex Bell Works, and an annex. The annex was bought by Lucent and later Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia. Antala bought the property in 2020 for $3.6 million.

What is an area in need of redevelopment? 

According to the state’s Local Redevelopment and Housing Law, properties can be considered an area in need of redevelopment if they meet certain criteria. If the planning board finds that the criteria has been met and the municipal governing body approves their recommendation, the municipality could prepare redevelopment plans, defray the cost of redeveloping on the property or invoke eminent domain if the property is considered a condemnation redevelopment area.

Kate Keller, the township’s planner who is with the firm Phillips Preiss Grygiel Leheny Hughes LLC, concluded that the former Nokia annex qualifies as a condemnation area in need of redevelopment.

In her report presented to the planning board, it found that the building met two of the eight criteria. An area can qualify as in need of redevelopment if one or more criteria are met.

Criteria A states that the buildings “are substandard, unsafe, unsanitary, dilapidated, or obsolescent, or possess any of such characteristics, or are so lacking in light, air, or space, as to be conducive to unwholesome living or working conditions.”

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Criteria B involves the “discontinuance of the use of a building or buildings previously used for commercial, retail, shopping malls or plazas, office parks, manufacturing, or industrial purposes; the abandonment of such building or buildings; significant vacancies of such building or buildings for at least two consecutive years; or the same being allowed to fall into so great a state of disrepair as to be untenantable.”

Keller argued that the building had been unoccupied for three years which “resulted in a pattern of crime and deterioration on the site.”

She said that on her site visit, she found broken windows and smashed doors.

“That’s never a good thing for a building that’s been sitting vacant,” she said.

She argued that because the former Nokia facility was built specifically for telecommunication research, re-tenanting the building would be a challenge.

“New lab space has very specific requirements for air circulation, energy, water use and it’s often very impractical or too costly to retrofit an existing space,” she said.

She added, “The specialty use facility has limited appeal in this marketplace, especially given the lack of similar users in Holmdel at this time.”

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What is the developer’s argument against a condemnation area designation?

Crawford Hill Holdings hired its own municipal planner Peter Steck to conduct its own redevelopment study to refute the findings of the township’s redevelopment study.

Steck said the purpose of redevelopment is to eliminate blight.

He said, “The intent of the redevelopment statute is to address situations where the private marketplace is not going to remedy the conditions that are observed. If the private marketplace, in my opinion, is operational, a property isn’t blighted.”

He argued that the former Nokia building, although a laboratory, could be retrofitted. In his counter report, he notes that the media company TV Asia, which focuses on the South Asian communities in the US and Canada, had signed a lease for office and broadcasting space in the building in November 2020. Less than two weeks later, it canceled its lease due to zoning restrictions. Starting in September 2020, conversations about developing townhouses began with township officials.

The report stated that in March, a dental company R&Y LLC owned by Sayed Ibrahim was interested in the former Nokia building for light manufacturing of SprinJene toothpaste products. By July, the company declined to purchase the building after becoming aware of the township committee's actions regarding the property, according to the report.

Steck said the reason the building has not been occupied is because of the township’s restrictive zoning. The land is zoned RL-40 for research laboratory.

“While the marketplace has changed, your zoning hasn’t,” he said. “One solution is to change your zoning so it complies with what the marketplace is looking for.”

He argued that the graffiti on the walls was “not a threat … to health, safety and welfare.”

He also stated that the air conditioning units for the building were on lot 6, which is in negotiations with the township.

Keller argued that approving the recommendation of condemnation for redevelopment does not mean that the building cannot be reused.

The board voted to approve the recommendation with planning board member Ron Emma disagreeing. Emma argued that the township’s master plan prioritizes preserving historic sites and the former Nokia building would not need a redevelopment designation.

The recommendation to consider the site of the Nokia building a condemnation area in need of redevelopment will be voted on by the township committee for approval.

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What about the proposed townhouses? 

Previous plans were submitted by Crawford Hill Holdings and Burke Construction for 88 townhomes on the site.

An October 2022 cover letter by Burke Construction found that the pandemic has changed the demand for office real estate. It states that the former Nokia building suffers “from obsolescence, dilapidation, disrepair, vacancy and faulty design arrangement.”

According to Steck, those plans are no longer under consideration due to the negotiations with the township for lots 6 and 6.01.

Olivia Liu is a reporter covering transportation, Red Bank and western Monmouth County. She can be reached at oliu@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Holmdel to consider former Nokia annex near Horn Antenna a condemnation area