Seashore Day Camp in Long Branch demolished, and here is what will replace it
LONG BRANCH - Seashore Day Camp, a fixture in the city for nearly a century before it was sold last year, is nearly gone.
Not much was left of the property on Wednesday as construction crews have been tearing into the buildings all this week. A few walls and the entrance door to the main camp building were still partially up, leaving the former indoor gymnasium and its basketball hoops exposed to passersby.
Seashore owner John Villapiano sold the camp to Philip Saada last year in March for a little more than $1 million, according to Monmouth County property records. The summer camp had operated for 96 years and was very much part of the heart of the city. Last summer was its final season.
Saada, who splits his time between homes in Allenhurst and Miami, is in the planning stages of 15 townhouses. The property is 1.1 acres at the corner of Second and North Bath avenues, about two blocks from the ocean.
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City planner Nicholas A. Graviano said Saada is working on revisions to the plan and will go before the Planning Board, perhaps by the end of the summer, for final site plan approval.
Villapiono also owned and operated Seashore Day School on Broadway, a private school for elementary-age students. He closed the school permanently in June 2020, citing struggles to keep enrollment up.
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He opened the school in 1974 and found a niche with all-day kindergarten, something that was not offered at the time in the public school system. However, the public schools have since caught up to him on that and his specialized curriculum. The COVID-19 pandemic was the final straw.
That property is under contract to be purchased and the city has created a redevelopment plan for the four-acre site, which calls for re-use of its historic structures, including the 1926-era Masonic Temple building, on the lot at 410 Broadway for apartments.
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A large swath of the ball fields on the vacant lot bordering Morris Avenue will be donated to the city for a park.
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: Long Branch NJ: Seashore Day Camp demolished, townhouses to come
