Home Care In Long Branch, NJ

LONG BRANCH - The vacant land at the corner of Lippincott Avenue, Sixth Avenue and Broadway that is across the street from City Hall and the library is being eyed for a possible mixed-use building with apartments atop retail.

That design would match the architecture of both public buildings. However, that is just what's come out of preliminary discussions that city officials have had with the developer.

No formal site plans have been submitted to the city's Planning and Zoning department yet, but a few key developments have occurred at the property recently. For starters, the land — which consists of four lots totaling about an acre combined — exchanged developer hands in November, according to Monmouth County property records.

Faith Light, an LLC with a Belmar address, purchased the lots from Broadway Properties in November for $2.1 million. Broadway Properties had owned the properties for about 20 years. It's not clear how long the land has sat vacant, but it's been at least 10 years and possibly quite more than that.

Long Branch development:See Kushner plan for apartments, stores, supermarket along lower Broadway

The other development happened Wednesday when the mayor and City Council formally requested the city's Planning Board to determine if the properties can be declared an area in need of redevelopment. City Administrator Charlie Shirley said they requested that because all the lots do not sit in the same zone and the redevelopment designation could help package the lots under the same zoning rules.

The other reason for the redevelopment designation would give the city more control over the look of the finished project. For example, Shirley said they would like the developer to put in a café-style sidewalk for outdoor seating. That sidewalk would require a width of 12 feet to 15 feet, versus the standard eight feet. The city is also mulling the idea of a pedestrian crosswalk to tie the site into Slocum Park, which is directly across the street.

Long Branch development:Century-old Long Branch Record building could be saved with apartments, store

Then there is city's desire to have aesthetics match City Hall and the library.

The city would strip the eminent domain element out of any redevelopment designation. City officials said there aren't any tax PILOTs planned for the site, either, which is another tool in the redevelopment designation's toolbox. A PILOT, or payment in lieu of taxes, allows a developer to pay a predetermined annual fee rather than be subject to property taxes, which can change each year.

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; [email protected].

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New Jersey

Several projects slated to open in beach town that birthed Springsteen within the next few years

Ulysses S. Grant had his “summer White House” there throughout his presidency. Bruce Springsteen wrote “Born to Run” at a cottage there in 1974. Former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky once referred to it as the place where “all my poems are about.”

Long Branch, N.J., has had many lives over its 150-year history — and the past few years have brought another one in the form of a wave of commercial redevelopment. The city of 32,000 joins other historic Jersey Shore communities like Asbury Park and Wildwood in a building spree, one that followed the destruction wrought by 2012’s Superstorm Sandy. Hundreds of apartments and condos are going up at once, along with retail space and other property.

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Take the Atlantic Club, a new luxury condo property approved by Long Branch’s Planning Board earlier this year. Once the site of Seaview Towers, twin apartment buildings demolished in 2020 after sitting vacant for 15 years, the Atlantic Club will feature 75,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor amenities, and will charge between $1.12 million and more than $5.95 million for one of its 132 units.

The project, developed by owners from New York’s Stillman Development International, Gotham City Real Estate and New Jersey’s Surrey Equities, is targeting completion for late 2025.

Roy Stillman, president of Stillman Development, said the project’s design philosophy is a melding of art and commerce. Stillman tapped famed design gallery owner Cristina Grajales to curate a “gallery aesthetic” throughout the development.

“The big theme here is the convergence of art and business as the secret formula for letting everybody win. The more expansive the list of winners, the better project you have,” Stillman said. “Our winners are both people that don’t live in the building and people that will live in the building, as they get to consume this level of artistic inspiration and work and execution that would otherwise not be available to them.”

There’s also the three-story, mixed-use building going up just a few blocks south at665 Second Avenue. Developed by Inspired by Somerset Development, a firm based in neighboring Holmdel, the property will yield 22 units and 800 feet of ground-floor retail once it opens next year.

Yet the land that the still-nameless building sits on contains far more sentimental value than it may first appear. It was the former site of the Inkwell Coffee House, a beloved local joint built in the 1960s and frequented by the likes of actor/director Kevin Smith, as well as a young Springsteen, who was born in Long Branch. Inkwell owner Anthony Esposito announced the closure in spring 2022.

Although the new building replacing it will feature a more contemporary aesthetic, Ken Gold, vice president of acquisitions and development for Somerset, said the developers have kept Inkwell’s legacy top of mind.

“We were very aware of the location and the importance of the Inkwell and the history to the Long Branch community, and that is something that has always been at the forefront of our thoughts with the redevelopment,” Gold said. “Working with the town and planners to really restore that space to the expectations of the market is really important to us, and making sure we pay homage and tribute to what got it there. The building has been demolished, but we definitely kept some things from the Inkwell — signs, banners, that sort of stuff — and we’re working on keeping the history alive.”

Much to the dismay of this reporter, Springsteen could not be reached for comment.

Further north, at 20 Third Avenue, Hoboken-based private real estate company Prime City is constructing its own four-story, mixed-use building, dubbed SICA Lofts. The development will feature 31 apartments and 2,500 square feet of ground-floor retail, part of which will be leased back to the city for the creation of a new community and cultural arts center.

The leaseback pays homage to the lot’s history as the former site of the Lincoln Can Manufacturing Company and later the Shore Institute of Contemporary Arts (or SICA — hence the new name).

Then there’s Pier Village — the sprawling oceanfront, mixed-use community on Chelsea Avenue about a quarter mile away from SICA Lofts. Kushner Companies and partner Extell Development purchased Pier Village from Ironstate Development back in 2014, and Extell sold its stake to Kushner in 2020.

Since opening in 2005, Pier Village has slowly expanded over the years and today includes 500 apartments, 250 condos, a hotel (with a second one in development) and a vast array of dining, retail and entertainment spaces — though the property has a rocky history. The troubles began in 1987 when a fire destroyed Long Branch Pier, built in the 1910s on the land Pier Village now occupies, taking out an amusement park, storefronts and the locally famous, 10,000-square-foot “Haunted Mansion” along with it. The ruins sat untouched for well over a decade until cleared in 2001.

In 1996, the city and its mayor at the time, Adam Schneider, launched the Long Branch Redevelopment Plan, which laid out criteria for overhauling five sectors in the beach town. The city controversially used eminent domain to buy out local homeowners, in an effort to assemble the parcel that would eventually become Pier Village.

The city’s application of eminent domain, historically used by governments to repossess desolate private property for the sake of public use, was a “public relations disaster,” according to the The New York Times in 2004, and resulted in a number of homeowners fighting back to keep their land.

The city ultimately settled with those homeowners in 2009 after years of litigation, and ended its use of eminent domain to acquire beachfront homes for redevelopment soon after.

“It’s an interesting dichotomy. People who have lived here for a long time, especially the ones who made it through eminent domain, are sort of bitter about what’s happening. They feel that [Long Branch] is no longer the city they grew up in, that everything’s changing,” said Michele Irizarry, a local residential real estate broker. “Yet new people coming in think that Long Branch is amazing. So there’s a bit of a divide between older residents and newer residents.”

Meanwhile, plans by Kushner to redevelop two blocks of barren land in Long Branch’s lower Broadway area were approved by the city’s Planning Board earlier this summer. (Nicole Kushner Meyer, a principal at Kushner Companies, is married to Joseph Meyer, chairman of CO owner Observer Media.)

The project had for years resided in a financial and litigative swamp. Long Branch Partners, an affiliate of Montville, N.J.-based Diversified Realty Advisors, acquired some 50 properties in the area in 2014, with the intention of investing nearly $200 million to build new commercial and retail properties along Long Branch’s main drag, and spent the better part of 2017 demolishing them for that very purpose. Yet the firm ultimately sold the properties to Kushner after years of legal seesawing between the two developers and the city.

Kushner now plans to build nearly 300 apartments, new retail spaces, a cafe and a grocery store on the properties. Michael Sommer, Kushner’s chief development officer, told the Asbury Park Press in July that construction could break ground before the end of the year.

“The lower Broadway project, seen as an extension of the vibrant Pier Village community, is a crucial step in revitalizing the downtown area,” Kushner Meyer said. “The focus is not just on residential development but also on bridging the downtown to the waterfront, with the addition of a supermarket to serve the year-round community. This project is envisioned as a lynchpin in connecting the two.”

Long Branch lived up to its name of the Green Wave as it pushed Red Bank Regional away to a 41-20 victory in Long Branch in the 100th and final showdown between the schools.

Long Branch (7-5) struck on the last play of the first half when Earnest Reevey found Nyron Sterling for a 21-yard touchdown to give the Green Wave a 28-14 lead at halftime. Alex Choback made it a 21-14 game for Red Bank (3-7) following an 11-yard touchdown run with 48 seconds remaining in the half.

“You always want to win the game, especially if it’s the last game of the season,” Long Branch head coach Chad King said. “With it being the 100th rivalry game and a home game for us, our guys really wanted to end the year on a high note.”

Jah’Cire Jones nearly cut it to a one-score game for Red Bank with a 51-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, but it was called back for holding. From there, Long Branch’s defense stood strong as it forced a turnover on downs to hand the ball back to Reevey entering the fourth.

“It’s what we’ve seen all year,” King said. “These guys love to play football and this was another opportunity for them to come together and play the game.”

Reevey recorded his second touchdown pass of the day when he connected with Havier Gonzalez on a 20-yard reception to put Long Branch ahead 35-14 with 11:51 remaining. He finished 12-for-12 for 147 yards.

“It means everything because the coaches preach this is basically like the Super Bowl because there’s so much history behind it,” Reevey said. “Everybody was so confident in everything they could do.”

Reevey also got it done on the ground as he recorded 14 carries for 156 yards and ran in the first two touchdowns for Long Branch, including a 29-yard carry to give the Green Wave a 14-0 advantage with 5:53 left in the first quarter. He added an interception in the fourth.

“I saw what we’ve been seeing for the past three years,” King continued. “He’s a great football player, had some limited opportunities because of injuries, but came out and showed what he’s capable of on a daily basis.”

In addition, DaVon Craft had a big day for Long Branch as he finished with 20 carries for 132 yards along with a pair of touchdowns, including a one-yard score to close the scoring for the Green Wave. He also recorded a five-yard touchdown to give Long Branch a 21-7 lead with 8:03 left in the second quarter.

“I’m happy to know we got the win and hopefully will continue into next year too,” Craft said. “My line had an amazing day today, I’ll definitely congratulate them once I get into the locker room.”

Despite coming away with the loss, Red Bank fought until the final whistle as Choback notched his second score on a one-yard carry to make it a 41-20 game with 11 seconds remaining. Jones also cut it to a 14-7 game with 1:07 left in the first quarter following a 25-yard rushing touchdown.

“We loved being a part of the Red Bank Regional and Long Branch rivalry,” Red Bank head coach Shane Fallon said. “Long Branch made more plays today than we did, but both teams played extremely hard and represented their schools and community very well. We have a lot of work to do in the off-season, but we’re looking forward to playing against Long Branch in the future.”

Long Branch closes the rivalry with a 65-32-3 record against Red Bank. It was the seventh-longest series in New Jersey still being played on Thanksgiving.

Jones led the way on the ground for Red Bank with 15 carries for 83 yards. Choback finished 6-for-13 for 104 yards along with six rushes for 30 yards.

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On Nov. 20, the federal government approved Empire Wind 1 and 2, two new wind farm lots 19 miles off Long Branch:

|Updated Thu, Nov 30, 2023 at 7:53 am ET

LONG BRANCH, NJ — Last week, the U.S. federal government approved the biggest lot to date of wind turbines to be built off the Jersey Shore.

On Nov. 20, the Biden-Harris administration approved the Empire Wind 1 and 2 offshore wind project, according to this press release from the U.S. Department of the Interior.

And on Wednesday, Gov. Phil Murphy directed the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to launch a fourth round of offshore wind solicitation, beginning in early 2024. That means that sometime in the new year, companies can bid to build more wind farms off New Jersey.

Empire Wind 1 and 2 will be two wind farms right next to each other, located about 14 miles south of Long Island and 19.5 miles east of Long Branch; see the map above.

If it gets built, Empire Wind will be New Jersey's biggest wind farm so far: Together, the two offshore wind lots will total nearly 80,000 acres of ocean. They will be permitted to have up to 147 wind turbines combined.

Find out what's happening in Long Branch-Eatontownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

That's bigger than the Atlantic Shores wind farm approved to be built off Barnegat Light (110 turbines), and bigger than the now dead-in-the-water wind farm Orsted said it was going to build off Atlantic City (98 turbines).

Empire Wind 1 and 2 will be owned and operated a joint partnership between BP (oil and gas behemoth British Petroleum) and Equinor Wind LLC, a Norwegian energy company, according to the Empire Wind website.

This comes less than a month after Danish company Orsted made the surprise 3 a.m. announcement on Oct. 31 they were pulling out of plans to build wind farms off Atlantic City. Orsted said the project was too expensive — despite the fact that the NJ Legislature gave them nearly $500 million in tax breaks to build the wind farms.

Gov. Phil Murphy released a furious statement after Orsted backed out, saying at the time: "Orsted's decision to abandon its commitments to New Jersey is outrageous and calls into question the company’s credibility and competence."

Murphy said he would be considering litigation against Orsted, although as of Nov. 29 the state of New Jersey has not sued Orsted.

Orsted's 98 turbines would have started 15 miles out. They would have been visible from Atlantic City beaches on very clear days, according to these renderings released by the company. So it's unlikely the Empire Wind turbines will be visible from Long Branch beaches, as they will be 19 miles out.

Despite Orsted pulling out, President Joe Biden is moving forward on his goal of greatly expanding America's offshore wind energy. Empire Wind is the sixth offshore wind energy project to be approved under the Biden-Harris administration.

Biden said he has a goal of creating 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030, an ambition back by Gov. Murphy. The Biden administration has approved first-ever offshore wind lots in the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico, and is exploring offshore wind development in the Gulf of Maine and off Oregon.

Not a single wind turbine has been built yet off the Jersey Shore.

Atlantic Shores, the wind farm proposed to be built 10 miles off Barnegat Light, Long Beach Island, is still on track to be built, said Murphy Wednesday. At 10 miles out, those turbines will definitely be visible from the beaches.

But no actual turbine construction has begun.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said the two Empire Wind farms could create 2,076 megawatts of clean energy, which could power more than 700,000 homes in New York City, Long Island and New Jersey each year. The wind farms would also create jobs to build and to maintain.

But Clean Ocean Action, a Jersey Shore ocean advocacy group that has been critical of wind farms, said wind farms off New York/New Jersey are being "fast tracked."

"The projects will be sandwiched between shipping lanes entering the busiest port on the US East Coast, the Port of New York and New Jersey," said Clean Ocean Action in a statement. "We are once again frustrated with the government fast-tracking numerous massive offshore wind projects, especially amid the severe financial turmoil the offshore wind industry is experiencing as evidenced by Orsted’s recent cancellation of two projects."

"Too many questions remain unanswered about the impacts of offshore wind projects, such as Empire Wind 1 & 2, to move so quickly and recklessly forward with massive ocean industrialization," said Clean Ocean Action. "The ocean deserves more care."

“Under President Biden’s leadership, the American offshore wind industry is continuing to expand rapidly — creating good-paying union jobs across the manufacturing, shipbuilding and construction sectors," said U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland. “Today’s approval of the sixth offshore wind project adds to the significant progress towards our administration’s clean energy goals."

Wind turbines off the Jersey Shore: 2 Offshore Wind Farms Canceled In New Jersey, Developer Says (Oct. 31)

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Ocean Gate, a striking collection of brand-new luxury apartments, has opened in Long Branch, delivering an exceptional resort lifestyle enriched with state-of-the-art amenities, inspired living spaces and easy beach access.

Located at 30 Ocean Blvd. in a coastal setting just moments from numerous eateries, quaint shops, parks and the Jersey Shore, Ocean Gate features 170 open residences with luxurious style. The homes are spread throughout two midrise buildings designed by Monteforte Architectural Studio LLC, complemented by an array of lifestyle amenities that blur the lines between everyday ease and “staycation” indulgences.

The community debuts with a variety of layouts, including one-bedrooms, some with a powder room, and two- and three-bedroom residences. Select homes offer an additional loft and private outdoor space. Monthly rents start from the low $3,000s, including limited-time grand opening incentives of up to two months free on select homes. Immediate occupancy is available.

“We are excited to introduce Ocean Gate to the Long Branch community and beyond,” Steven Silverman, partner of Ocean Cooper Revitalization LLC, Ocean Gate’s developer, said. “This stunning property represents a vision of beach living that blends architectural excellence, modern interiors and a harmonious blend with nature. Ocean Gate is not just a place to live; it’s an invitation to experience the coastal dream. We’re proud to bring this extraordinary community to life.”

Each Ocean Gate residence is designed to elevate the living experience. With 9-foot ceilings, luxury plank flooring, custom modular closets and complimentary window treatments, the homes offer both style and functionality. In-home washers and dryers and central air add to the convenience, while select residences offer private outdoor spaces perfect for savoring the coastal breeze and picturesque views.

The kitchens at Ocean Gate feature stainless steel appliances, a gas range and side-by-side refrigerator, white quartz countertops, full-height tiled backsplashes and soft-close cabinetry, making every meal preparation a pleasure. Bathrooms are adorned with white quartz countertops, porcelain tile floors, full-height tiled walls and soft-close cabinetry, ensuring every aspect of one’s daily routine exudes comfort and sophistication.

Luxury living extends beyond the homes at Ocean Gate with an array of lifestyle amenities. The outdoor resort-style escapes include a heated pool and sundeck, Tiki bar, cabanas, lounge seating, firepits, private barbecue and dining areas, and a movie wall. Residents can also take advantage of complimentary beach chair concierge service during the summer months.

An expansive clubhouse features a resident lounge, party room with catering kitchen, coworking spaces, game room, children’s playroom and more. Staying active couldn’t be easier in the state-of-the-art fitness center, yoga room, dedicated spin room and on the pickleball and volleyball courts. Convenient perks include a package room, resident and bike storage, garage parking, electric charging stations and a dog run for the community’s four-legged residents.

“Ocean Gate is a remarkable addition to Long Branch, offering residents an opportunity to immerse themselves in a beach sanctuary for both year-round living and seasonal retreats,” Jacqueline Urgo, president of the Marketing Directors, the community’s marketing and exclusive leasing agent, said. “The property’s location is close enough to the best dining, shops and entertainment, but removed enough to provide a desired level of coastal tranquility.”

Ocean Gate enjoys a prime location that’s in close proximity to Pier Village, a vibrant Victorian-inspired oceanfront village with a boardwalk, boutique shops and plenty of dining options. Manhattan is just a ferry ride or train ride away for residents, with SeaStreak operating commuter ferries out of the nearby town of Highlands daily, and New Jersey Transit rail service to Manhattan available via the Long Branch train station.