Thursday, February 21, 2013
Fozman: committee will meet with M&M chief
A township council redevelopment committee will meet with the principal of M&M Realty Partners to discuss the future of the Route 70 site, Councilman Jim Fozman said this week. "We're setting up another meeting with the redeveloper," when he returns form vacation, Fozman said. Last month, M&M representatives requested the council change the site's redevelopment plan – which currently calls for a hotel and banquet facility to be built at the site – to allow 192 condominium units, commercial space and about 70 rental units, depending on the complex's overall size. The proposal has been met with public criticism. Fozman discussed the matter in response to a question posed by resident John Zingis during the public comment portion of Tuesday's …
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Should developer pay a reduced tax obligation on Route 70 tract?
Providing a tax break to developers to build on otherwise undesirable properties is a way to – in the end – generate tax revenue. But should a tax abatement plan be used at the former Foodtown site on Route 70 in Brick? Some residents took aim at the option of entering into a so-called Payment in Lieu of Taxes, or PILOT, program with the township's chosen redeveloper of the former supermarket site at a township council meeting Tuesday which included an information session on the program. The PILOT program is relatively self-explanatory: the redeveloper of a piece of land is exempt from traditional property taxes for a set period between 10 and 30 years, and instead makes an annual set payment to the municipality. The option has upside and …
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Moore: Hotel plan will be examined again before decision is made
A proposal by a redeveloper to build 192 condominium units, 75 rental units and about 19,000 feet of commercial space at the former Foodtown site on Route 70 was met with immediate controversy after it was announced last week. But nothing is set in stone, officials say, and the issue of how the site should be redeveloped is still up for examination. "It's not a dead issue," said Council President Bob Moore. Though M&M Realty Partners was selected as the redeveloper of the site, it is still owned by the township and the official redevelopment plan calls for a hotel and banquet facility to be constructed there. In order to build condominiums or otherwise change the plan for the site, the council would have to adopt a revised plan. That has …
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Condos, apartments, light retail project requested
The redeveloper of the former Foodtown lot on Route 70 has proposed scrapping plans to construct a hotel and banquet facility at the site in favor of a large condominium complex accompanied by light commercial development and rental apartments. Building a hotel and conference center at the site is "not economically feasible," said Bob Smith, an attorney for M&M Realty Partners, the site's redeveloper. Smith said two consulting reports, one ordered by M&M and one by Brick Township officials, both confirmed a lack of market for such a facility. "The independent consultant said there just isn't enough business to support a hotel and conference center at that location," said Smith. In place of that project, M&M has proposed a 192 unit …
Monday, April 16, 2012
Latest plan reverts back to mixed use complex
Last week, Brick Patch reported that the latest plans for the former Foodtown site on Route 70 call for the site to be turned into a mixed-use residential and retail complex, similar to plans for several years ago. Since the township purchased the site, there have been several plans put forth as to how it should be used. There's no question that since the day the failing supermarket closed its doors, what should become of the site has been Brick's most controversial issue. Potential uses for the site that have been discussed have included everything from a township recreation center, to a hotel and banquet building, to the mixed use residential and retail complex that is being eyed again by redevelopers. Though we've had spirited …
Monday, April 9, 2012
Development will include some residential space
Township officials and the redeveloper in charge of the former Foodtown site on Route 70 are now looking to develop a mixed use complex on the lot of the former supermarket. Township Council President John Ducey said it may still be a while – perhaps up to 18 months – before all of the final approvals from the state are in, but a reprieve from some of those approvals is possible. "We're hoping that, if it's done in phases, work can start a little earlier," said Ducey. As part of the overall approval process for redevelopment of the site, the state Department of Transportation must sign off on roadway and access plans since the complex is situated along a state highway. A plan has been submitted, and in March, the state began a review …
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Some suggest political motives behind banner
There have been no approvals of plans to build at the former Foodtown site on Route 70, no deeds transferred and no permits issued from state agencies, but a banner showing a developer's plan for the lot has turned heads in town. A banner advertising "Coming Soon! The Shoppes at the Pond" appeared prior to last weekend on the side of a trailer parked at the site, leaving passing motorists to wonder if construction would start soon. But according to township Business Administrator Scott Pezarras, the developer of the site, M&M Realty Partners, simply wanted to put its vision of the site in the public view. "We had a meeting with the redeveloper," Pezarras said. "He said he wanted to put his vision of the site up there." That vision includes…
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Extra lane may help spur development of former Foodtown site
Brick officials will apply for a $400,000 grant which would fund a project to improve traffic flow and add a third lane to a portion of Route 70. The extra lane, as well as the widening of several portions of the roadway, would extend from east of the former Foodtown site to Chambers Bridge Road, said Business Administrator Scott Pezarras. The township has held meetings with state Sen. Andrew Ciesla [R-10] and officials with the state Department of Transportation about the plan to improve traffic flow in the area, which could make the site more attractive to tenants that could occupy the Foodtown site, Pezarras said. Township officials have said development of the former Foodtown site has been held up by a combination of the sour economy …
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Experts say former Foodtown site not suitable; too much local competition
- THE NEIGHBORHOOD FILES
- Joseph Hyer
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Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Grocery stores: Everybody needs them, but yet, it seems like competition to break into the Brick market is very low. The former site of the Route 70 Foodtown sat vacant for nearly a decade before coming down in September 2009. Since then, no grocery chains have publicly expressed interest in the site. Matt Casey of Matthew P. Casey & Associates, a Clark-based consulting firm, studies the local market, offering advice to retailers in the pharmacy and supermarket industries, and speculates that most grocers will likely avoid the site altogether. "That's such a tough intersection. There are some real accessibility and traffic issues right there. There's a really bad ingress/egress situation there, and that's a huge factor," he told Brick …
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Discussions with redeveloper continuing at Route 70 site
The township council made a small change to its agreement with the company in charge of redeveloping the former Foodtown site on Route 70 at its meeting Tuesday. The modification to the redeveloper's agreement, according to Business Administrator Scott Pezarras, will allow the developer – M&M Realty Partners – to use a figure decided by the state as the guideline for the site's impervious lot coverage allowance. Impervious coverage refers to the percentage of the lot on which the developer can cover land with buildings, parking areas and other permanent features. Due to its location close to the Metedeconk River, Forge Pond and the Barnegat Bay watershed, plans to develop the site must first pass muster with the state Department of …
John Zingis
10:19 pm on Monday, April 1, 2013
Brick Council meeting tomorrow night - April 2nd at 7pm. The discussion of future condo use at the former Foodtown site will be a much discussed topic. All should attend and join in the discussion. It's OUR TOWN. more ›