Foodtown site up for grabs
BY PATRICIA A. MILLER Staff Writer

BRICK TOWNSHIP - Township officials should have an idea of what may eventually go on the old Foodtown site by the fall, Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis said.

Requests for proposals (RFPs) went out to a number of interested parties last week. So far, the township has received 109 inquiries about the 10.5-acre site off Route 70, the mayor said.

"Everybody who called will be contacted," Acropolis said. "RFPs will be sent out to a lot of those people. They've [RFPs] got to be on the street for about 30 days."

Township officials will begin reviewing the proposals between Aug. 7 and the end of the summer, he said.

"By the fourth quarter, we should be able to pick three or four proposals we think the people in Brick will have a chance to voice an opinion on," Acropolis said.

The request for proposal mailings mark the beginning of the actual redevelopment process, which began when the Township Council voted 6-0 at the council meeting May 27 to introduce an ordinance establishing the Metedeconk Village Redevelopment Plan. The plan calls for a variety of mixed uses on the site.

The site has sat vacant for more than five years. The township purchased it in 2003 for $6.1 million from Food Circus Supermarkets of Middletown, during the administration of former Mayor Joseph C. Scarpelli. The site was once home to a 90,000-square-foot Bradlees department store and a 30,000-square-foot Foodtown store. The Bradlees store shut down roughly 15 years ago. The Foodtown store closed sometime between 2002 and 2003, Township Planner Michael Fowler has said.

"For five years, the township has owned the Foodtown, and it looks no different today than it did on the day that we signed the contract," Acropolis said. "That is unacceptable. That is why the council and I are moving forward with this redevelopment plan that will get the property back on the tax rolls while ensuring that the Foodtown property is developed with the best interests of our community in mind."

Candidates from both political parties running in the 2003 race for the Township Council - which included Acropolis and current Republican council members Ruthanne Scaturro, Michael Thulen and Anthony Matthews - said at the time they would like to see the Foodtown building used for recreational purposes. Matthews said the decision should belong to the residents, either through a referendum or a committee.

But Acropolis, who was a councilman in 2006, announced the plan to use the Foodtown site as a recreation center was "dead in the water" because of traffic concerns.

The Township Council passed a resolution in May 2007 that directed the Planning Board to investigate whether the Foodtown site qualified as an "area in need of redevelopment." Planning Board members passed a resolution in July 2007 that the site met the criteria and recommended the council designate the property as a redevelopment area. Council members passed a resolution in August 2007, declaring the site as a redevelopment area and directed Planning Board members to prepare a redevelopment plan. The board submitted its plan to the council May 14.

A redevelopment plan gives the township more leeway in what can go on the site. Fowler has compared the process to "spot zoning."

Acropolis said a hotel is one of the most popular suggestions for the eventual use of the site.

The redevelopment work could begin by June, he said.