See Kushner plan for apartments, stores, supermarket along Long Branch's lower Broadway
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LONG BRANCH - After years of financial troubles and legal fights, two blocks of barren landscape along lower Broadway will soon be replaced with 299 apartments, new retail and a grocery store.
Kushner Cos.' plan for lower Broadway was approved by the Planning Board last month. Michael Sommer, Kushner's executive vice president of development and construction, said the developer could break ground before the year is out.
"We are very pleased to continue making progress on this long-awaited redevelopment project. Groundbreaking is anticipated in the fourth quarter. We fully anticipate this new project to be a great addition to Long Branch and an amazing compliment to our Pier Village property," Sommer said.
The project has been moving through the approval process since the litigation was settled last year between Kushner Cos., Long Branch Partners and the city.
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Last September, the city and Kushner Cos. signed a redeveloper agreement that included no tax breaks. One of the final approvals Kushner needs is a state CAFRA permit, or Coastal Area Facility Review Act, for building near the beachfront. The developer applied to the state Department of Environmental Protection for the permit on June 25.
The development will be of the mixed-use variety and will take up the real estate from Second Avenue to Liberty Street, which is roughly 10 acres. Long Branch Partners cleared the derelict buildings there before selling the property and associated liquor licenses to Kushner for $21.6 million.
Supermarket and apartments
Kushner was approved to subdivide the lots on the north side of Broadway to build a 20,000-square foot grocery store that has already been leased to SuperFresh, which has locations in Brooklyn and Staten Island and will be expanding now to Long Branch. The rest of the north side of Broadway will have 136-unit, market rate, mixed-use apartment building with 2,345 square feet of ground floor retail space.
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On the south side of Broadway, Kushner will build a 163-unit apartment building with market-rate units and 30 units of affordable housing. The building will also be mixed use and will include a 1,950-square-foot corner café at the intersection of Broadway and Second Avenue.
The apartments will be one, two and three bedrooms and have a club room, lobby lounge, fitness center, pool, lawn area and rooftop amenities. The development will have 558 parking spaces. Sixty-four spaces will be on-street parking stalls on Broadway and North Second Avenue. The remaining 494 parking spots will be behind the two apartment buildings and grocery store.
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The long road here
Lower Broadway is part of the city's historic main thoroughfare. It hit some hard economic times in the latter half of the 20th century due in part to shopping malls siphoning off business. It was designated for redevelopment in 1996 in a city plan to revive the beachfront and downtown.
Long Branch Partners acquired 53 of the properties in the corridor in 2014 from a previous developer, Broadway Arts Center, which defaulted on bank loans.
Long Branch Partners then cleared the entire streetscape of several derelict and long-neglected buildings in preparation for a $200 million redevelopment plan before beginning negotiations with Kushner in 2018 to sell the properties.
Kushner Cos., based in New York and owned by the family of Jared Kushner, son-in-law of former President Donald Trump, owns Pier Village in Long Branch and Monmouth Mall in Eatontown, where it's also pursuing a redevelopment of the struggling shopping mall.
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 lower Broadway Kushner plan for apartments, stores OK'd
