Plans for Foodtown site call for a variety of uses
Purchase prices range from $4.8M to $7.5M
BY PATRICIA A. MILLER Staff Writer
Brick Township Council members will spend the next month mulling over four proposals for the old Foodtown site that range from a plan with two 15-story towers to a four-story hotel.

All of the plans submitted call for some type of hotel facility on the 10.5-acre site off Route 70, Township Planner Michael P. Fowler said during a presentation of the "Metedeconk Village Redevelopment Plan" at the Sept. 9 council meeting.

"I'm very thrilled to have a hotel on every single one of these sites," Township Council President Ruthanne Scaturro said.

Scaturro spent much of her year as Brick Rotary Club president in 2000 trying to convince developers to come to Brick with plans for hotel facilities.

"The designs are so different, I imagine we are going to have a hard time making a decision," she said.

The receipt of the four proposals for the site is the end of the first phase of the redevelopment process to put the property back on the tax rolls, Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis said.

"The council will do the best thing … obviously with public input," he said. "Now we are ready for phase two. It's something we have a little more control over. If we had not gone out to bid, I'm sure we would have a Home Depot coming in or some other big-box store."

The council unanimously voted to approve the Metedeconk Village Redevelopment Plan, which calls for a variety of uses on the site. The adoption of the plan gave the council more control into what eventually goes on the site.

"The beauty of this redevelopment authority is that it gives us the opportunity to say, 'We don't like 15 [stories], we like 10, we like 8," Councilman Michael Thulen said. "That's really the beauty of this whole program."

There were other parties interested in the site that did not submit proposals in time to meet the extended deadline, he said.

"I suggest we listen to these bidders' proposals also," Thulen said. "I want to know everything that's out there prior to making any final decision. I'm excited to get the four, to be honest with you."

The council and the land use department will interview two of the developers within the next two weeks and the other two within the month, Fowler said.

"The public will have a chance to look at the proposals beforehand, so they can ask questions on anything," Fowler said.

The four companies that returned request for proposals include:

• New Jersey-based First Montgomery Group, submitted a $6 million proposal to construct a full-service, 100-room hotel with meeting and banquet facilities for up to 200 people, 151 age-targeted residential units, 17,500 square feet of office and retail space, 552 parking spaces, restaurants, a courtyard, recreation seating, pathways and amenities in a village setting.

• New Jersey-based Paramount Realty Services Inc. proposed a $4.8 million project that includes a four-story, 125-room Marriott Courtyard or Residence Inn, a separate 20,000-square-foot catering facility and conference center, improvements to adjoining township-owned property for outdoor events, a pharmacy pad for a CVS drugstore and a restaurant pad.

•Pennsylvania-based TBG Developers submitted plans for the "Brick Marina Town Square," a three-phase project that calls for the construction of two 15-story towers. The first phase would include a deluxe, limited-service, 124-room Marriott hotel, attached upscale banquet facilities and a restaurant. One tower would be built during the second phase, and would include upscale office space, retail space and residential apartments. The third phase calls for the construction of a second, 15-story tower, similar to the first tower. TGB did not submit a proposal price, Fowler said.

•New Jersey-based M&M Realty partners, which includes Edgewood Properties Inc. and JMP Holdings, submitted a $7.5 million plan dubbed the "Metedeconk Village Redevelopment" — a 120-room, fourstory hotel with convention and banquet facilities, 72,730 square feet of general retail, including a 45,730-square-foot grocery store and two restaurants.

"These weren't all cookie cutters," Councilman Daniel Toth said of the four proposals. "Every design showed a unique architectural perspective. It's nice to see we will eventually have a nice destination right in Brick Township."

Brick bought the site in 2003 for $6.1 million, during the administration of former longtime Democratic Mayor Joseph C. Scarpelli, with the intent to thwart plans for a proposed Home Depot store and build a community center on the site instead.

But the site, which was once home to a Bradlees department store and a Foodtown supermarket, has sat unused for many years. Plans for the community center fell through when Acropolis, who was a township councilman in 2006, said it was "dead in water" because of traffic and financial concerns.

Council members 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 site as an area in need of redevelopment. Council members did so in August 2007 and mandated that the Planning Board prepare criteria for the "Metedeconk Village Redevelopment Plan." The board submitted its proposed plan to the council earlier this year.

Contact Patricia A. Miller at bulletin@ gmnews.com.