Middletown schools to lease Port Monmouth to film producers
MIDDLETOWN - The Port Monmouth Elementary School, closed down two years ago, will have a new life, albeit a temporary one.
The Board of Education agreed Tuesday to lease the school to a video production company for approximately two months in exchange for $50,000.
Navesink River Productions' lease runs through July 22 to use the school "as a film production office," according to an agreement the board ratified Tuesday.
What precisely the production company will work on there was not immediately clear. Board and administration officials were not immediately able to provide more information, and messages left at a number for the production company were not immediately returned.
There will be no alterations or construction at the school during the term of the lease.
The board voted in March 2020 to close Port Monmouth following the end of that school year, merging its student body with New Monmouth Elementary School, despite stiff opposition from Port Monmouth parents. The district shuttered the school as a cost-savings measure as state aid was slated to decrease thanks to changes in the state's funding formula.
The school is also under consideration as a possible indoor recreation center.
In January of this year the district and township hired Louisville, Kentucky-based Pinnacle Indoor Sports to determine whether the school would be a suitable site for recreation or online gaming, and whether there was demand in the area for such a facility.
Alex N. Gecan covers local news and unsolved mysteries for the Asbury Park Press. You can reach him at 732-547-1365 or agecan@gannettnj.com, or follow him on Twitter @GeeksterTweets.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Middletown schools: Port Monmouth rented to movie producers
