Asbury Park scored big on Friday, when Governor Murphy announced the city would receive a $20 million dollar grant administered by the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs to assist the city and seventeen additional Jersey Shore boardwalks. The goal of the funding is to encourage communities with boardwalks to stay “vibrant tourism destinations in the long term by investing in state-of-the-art materials that increase storm resiliency and ensure longer lasting infrastructure,” according to the Murphy administration.
“So many of us have created memories with family and friends at the boardwalks of the Jersey shore. Our boardwalks have long been a prized destination and we want to keep them that way by helping shore communities repair and maintain these wooden main streets,” said Governor Phil Murphy. “We look forward to all the vital projects that will result from our Boardwalk Preservation Fund investments. The grant awards announced today are a meaningful step in preserving the health and dynamism of these special places.”
So many of us have created memories with family and friends at the boardwalks of the Jersey shore. Our boardwalks have long been a prized destination and we want to keep them that way by helping shore communities repair and maintain these wooden main streets.
Governor Phil Murphy
Awards ranged from $448,000 to $20 million. A full list of municipalities funded can be found here: Office of the Governor | ICYMI: Murphy Administration Announces $100 Million in Boardwalk Preservation Fund Grant Awards (nj.gov).
“This will be enough to do the City’s projects, with the remaining 13 million going towards the Convention Hall complex restoration program. Is it enough for the entire project? No, but I believe it would be more than enough to at least get the Paramount reopened and bring all the events such as Light of Day back to their original home,” said Mayor John Moor. He mentioned the project will start soon as “funds must be encumbered by December 31, 2024, and spent by December 31, 2026.” In 2021, the Paramount Theatre was shut own because it was deemed to be unsafe.
This will be enough to do the City’s projects, with the remaining 13 million going towards the Convention Hall complex restoration program. Is it enough for the entire project? No, but I believe it would be more than enough to at least get the Paramount reopened and bring all the events such as Light of Day back to their original home.
Mayor John Moor
Local attorney Tommy DeSeno implored that the Mayor and Council not “release 10 cents to them without negotiating new agreements for them to finish the rest of the pavilions. Not 10 cents.”
In January of last year, the City of Asbury Park Municipal Council passed a Resolution to serve Notices of Default to Madison Asbury Retail, LLC, (a subsidiary of Madison Marquette), regarding its failure to honor formal agreements with the City of Asbury Park in compliance with the Waterfront Development Plan.
Recently, Madison Marquette has agreed to sell its management, marketing and leasing business to Avison Young, a Toronto, Canada-based commercial real estate services company.