Asbury Park Press – Opponents said it wouldn’t last. They said the first good storm would knock it down. But not only has the four-year-old Pier Village become the “destination” city officials said they needed to remake the oceanfront, its second phase is ready for occupancy. Before the desk clerk has a chance to light the No Vacancy sign on the second phase “boutique” hotel, city officials will be reviewing plans for the village’s third phase, which includes another, much larger hotel, apartments, condominiums and retail space.
Why is Pier Village thriving as the economy falters and takes redevelopment plans for the city’s Beachfront South section down with it? For Greg Russo, a principal in Applied Development, which is developing Pier Village, it was a curious dynamic way back in 2000 when he was scouting locations. Most officials in towns considering redevelopment wanted for-sale housing. But Pier Village was to be rental, which has proven to be one of its saving graces, officials agree. “The rental market has provided so much more than the for-sale market,” Russo said. “As the for-sale market collapsed in many areas, the rental market has remained strong, which is why we were able to go ahead with it.”
A united and committed City Council helped, Councilman Anthony Giordano recalled, saying the city was advised by experts in the retail trade that its goal to develop 100,000 square feet of retail in the first phase was too much. “Insane” was the word used. “The recommendation we got back was 25,000 square feet,” Giordano said. “Our instincts told us differently. We thought in time finding the right developers and operators would create a successful beachfront neighborhood, and that certainly has been the case.”
Pier Village is the first of the redevelopment projects here. Russo said Applied was attracted to the oceanfront and had been considering both Asbury Park and Long Branch, but settled on Long Branch because it had the more stable municipal government in 2000. And it also had a burned-out pier and a rat-infested water slide, as Mayor Adam Schneider likes to point out. Pier Village made that disappear. Now, in the summer, motorists can encounter gridlock getting into the development, Schneider said. And that is a good thing.
“From our point of view, if you are a beachfront community and you don’t have a parking problem, something is wrong,” he said. “This is a testament to smart growth and planning.” City Business Administrator Howard H. Woolley said there will be 1,400 parking spaces at Pier Village when it is built out. Pier Village also benefits because of its location in the middle of a tri-state region where 20 million people are within half-a-gasoline-tank of shopping, eating and beachfront recreation, including athletic clubs. Boosting the effort to make the project a destination was Avenue in Pier Village recently being named one of the 25 best restaurants in the state, and the area last year being named one of the 20 great American beaches by Travel and Leisure Magazine. Meanwhile, beach badge revenue will probably top $800,000 this year, mostly drawn from Pier Village access points, and that’s a city record, Schneider said. And the city’s plan to initially attract redevelopers to remake the oceanfront in order to attract redevelopers to move west, sparking redevelopment of Broadway, the city’s prime commercial corridor finally is paying off, Giordano said.
“The other thing that is noteworthy about Pier Village, its success is really what is driving the significant level of interest in the revitalization of lower Broadway,” where an arts and entertainment project is planned, among others, Giordano said. Who comes to Pier Village? Giordano said locals do, especially for the Thursday and Friday concerts, which are free. Schneider contends it is more of an out-of-town crowd. Michele Wilk of M. Wilk Consulting, Manasquan, the leasing agent for Pier Village’s retail end, said the complex seems to draw from both New York and North Jersey, as well as shoppers from Rumson, Deal, Oceanport, Allenhurst and other surrounding towns. Wilk said that, in general, shoppers are looking for a more “edgy” kind of merchandise. While there was initial turnover in some of the boutiques, the many restaurants have stayed constant and are flourishing, Wilk said. And she recalled that when she initially tried to get merchants to commit to leasing space in an upscale complex in what has long been considered blue-collar Long Branch, they laughed.
“When I first started leasing this project, no one would believe anything like this could be developed there, and now it is supersuccessful,” Wilk said. “I think we offer something a little bit different, and the quality is there.” She said Pier Village is not feeling the economic downturn. However, Wilk, who also leases for upscale shopping complexes in Shrewsbury and Wall, acknowledges the picture is not so bright in other locations. “I know there are a lot of other retailers who are feeling the pinch right now, but Pier Village is holding its own,” she said. “It is different. It is something a little bit different.” In contrast to the Pier Village progress, Schneider and the city council must decide how to proceed with one-time plans for the second phase of Beachfront North, which was to contain 180 luxury condominiums. An appellate panel recently said to the relief of property owners in that section that the city’s 1996 redevelopment plan fails to comport with heightened standards of blight approved in 2007. The city must now decide whether to go back to court to try to prove the section is blighted so that it can be redeveloped.
