Awhile back I made a post on the Renaissance of Asbury Park. Asbury Park has a huge place in my heart because its the town where I grew up – I remember the days of going on the boardwalk to the arcade, going to the batting cages, go carts and riding the ferris wheel at the Palace Amusements. I’m only 26 – so my experience of Asbury Park’s boardwalk is from the mid to late 80′ (after that Asbury was all downhill). There are plenty of older people who remember Asbury in its heyday – not just the 1920s, but the 60s and 70s when the boardwalk had the roller coaster and it was more popular than most other areas on the Jersey Shore.

Earlier today someone left a comment on that post:

Do you still hold to your story of Asbury Partners bringing Asbury Park back. I was there last week and all signs of new construction are gone the only work is on the Asbury Towers. It is a ghost town once again and it is a shame…

I responded back to that comment here, but I wanted to elaborate a bit more and I think it’s time enough for a new post on the subject.

As David stated – yes, the town is a ghost town right now, but if you were to go to other seashore towns such as Point Pleasant, or Seaside – which are packed beyond belief during the summer, they are just as empty as Asbury is right now, and in some cases – Asbury may even be less of a ghost town.

First – just take a look at the website of the Asbury Park Boardwalk: http://www.theasburyparkboardwalk.com/

In the past year there have been great strides to the Asbury Park boardwalk – during the summer almost every storefront was open with a business, and the ones which didn’t have an open business ended up having one before the year was over. Some very nice restaurants opened – and are staying open year round – especially Tim McLoones Supper Club which really raised the level of fine dining in the town (if not the prices too).

New streetlights and stop lights were placed all around the boardwalk area – and walkways were finished leading up to the boardwalk and running parallel to the boardwalk – small improvements yes, but huge improvements over what was there and the psychological factor is very beneficial.

The famous Stone Pony was purchased and was closed for renovations (it may be open again – I cannot recall) with the hope for it to reopen as a great place for new bands as it was when Bruce Springsteen was discovered. The Wonder Bar, originally expected to be closed and torn down has been reopened and will stay open for the time being as a great outdoor bar, the deck on the one side of the building is almost larger than the building itself.

Madison Marquette who is in charge of developing the boardwalk is doing an excellent job in doing what they promised – the renovation of the pavilions is proceeding – the Second Ave Pavilion was finished late in 2008 and I expect them to start and finish on one of the other ones next year. Next summer will also see the opening of the water park – nothing compared to what you may find at Six Flags or Disney World, but still plenty of fun for the kids, and unique in this area.

The economy has also played a part in slowing down the development – what you see this year was due to alot of hand holding and easing of rents on the boardwalk tenants which will probably not be any better this summer, but its hard to tell since it is still 4 months away.

The biggest disappointment in Asbury last year was the postponement of The Esperanza condominium project across the street from the boardwalk. The developers of the project Metro Homes postponed it due to the declining economy and reiterated time after time their continued commitment to Asbury Park, the condo site and a hotel site they wish to build on in the South end of town.

The condo development has not started construction again (and I don’t see it restarting until late summer if then) but Metro Homes has recently submitted proposals to Asbury Park of how they will continue development of the project, originally a two tower development connected by a structure which would house parking, retail, and some amenities for the condo owners. Initially Metro Homes warned that they may significantly scale back the project – which was upsetting because it was going to be a very beautiful high rise (about 15 stories), but from what I read in the Asbury Park Press, the new building design will be very similar to the original design, and still as large as it was supposed to. The main differences would be a different condo layout. From what I heard there were over 100 different unit layouts, instead of a normal high rise which would include the same layout on each floor, with perhaps the highest floors being different from the others. The different layouts added immense cost to the construction and sales process. The redesigned building would have less layouts. It will also have another name.

The Berkley Carteret Hotel has also been a disappointment for Asbury, unfortunately it did not open to the spectacular reviews and meet the expectations it was supposed to, the renovation was done very very slowly – room by room instead of floor by floor, and even the renovated rooms were said to have a very cheap feel. Just by looking at the outside of the building its disappointing as the windows still look extremely crummy and it wasn’t until just recently that the windows in one of the meeting room areas facing the ocean was replaced with actual windows instead of plywood that remained for over a year after the new owners took over. I’m still not 100% sure what the status of that building is, I have a feeling the owners got in over their heads with it and may be looking to get rid of it – but in the mean time they are still trying to book special events and rooms.

Overall, Asbury Park is still going through its renewal and renaissance phase. Unfortunately its taking much longer than expected – but fortunately it’s not due to bankruptcy, and corruption – but more the affects of the overall economy. I do question how involved Asbury Partners currently is – most of the action and news seems to be all related to Madison Marquette. Asbury Partners still does have an office on the beachfront – but the majority of it’s space has been taken over by Madison Marquette.

I’m waiting to hear more information about the condo development that used to be the Esperanza, and once that happens, I’ll be sure to post information here.

andrew@alconic-inc.com