ASBURY PARK, N.J.—A multi-billion dollar redevelopment plan announced yesterday will transform a 1.25-mile stretch of Asbury Park, N.J., waterfront with residential, hotel, and infrastructure projects. iStar, a real estate investment company, is leading the revitalization, which involves more than 20 individual projects.
“We believe in Asbury Park’s potential as a one-of-a-kind place to live, work, visit, and invest,” said Jay Sugarman, iStar’s founder and CEO. “We’re excited to harness its character, beauty, and heritage to build a future full of promise. And we’re eager to share it with the world.”
Anda Andrei, formerly director of design with the Ian Schrager Company, is the creative lead for the entire redevelopment project. David Bowd, creator of the SALT hotels brand and a former executive at Andre Balazs Properties, will manage, program, and oversee development of an iStar-backed hotel currently under construction.
Other notable partners include architects Gary Handel (The Dream, Four Seasons Miami); Paul Taylor (Ace, Nomad); and Chad Oppenheim (Ten Museum Park Miami); landscape designer Madison Cox (Majorelle Gardens in Marrakech, Spring Garden at the French National Museum at the Château de Blérancourt); and landscape architects Melillo + Bauer Associates.
Asbury Park offers multiple music venues (like the legendary Stone Pony and retro-hip Asbury Lanes), galleries, chef-owned restaurants, independent-minded local retailers, nightspots, and seasonal farmers’ markets.
“Asbury Park has a soul that makes it unique in America,” said Andrei, whose past projects include the Delano Miami, Royalton New York, and The London EDITION. “There’s a love for that behind this project. We’re mining the incredible history and one-of-a-kind character to amplify what’s already here.” Bowd agreed. “Through the properties we’re developing, we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to capture Asbury Park’s incredible sense of place,” he said.
The company will also partner with Asbury Park businesses, cultural institutions, entrepreneurs, artists, and community groups to nurture the town’s character.
In total, iStar’s project will add more than 2,100 homes and 300 hotel rooms to the town. The 20 individual iStar-financed projects that will energize Asbury Park include:
The Asbury, a 110-key independent hotel designed by Stonehill & Taylor Architects, which will be inspired by Asbury Park and will take the title of its first new hotel in 30 years. The Asbury is set to open early summer 2016 in a long-vacant former Salvation Army building after extensive adaptive-reuse work.
Monroe, a 34-unit condominium designed by Miami architect Chad Oppenheim, projected to open in summer 2016.
Asbury Lanes, the legendary music and bowling venue, which will get a refresh from iStar, its new owner.
1101 Ocean, a mixed-use hotel/condominium/retail project designed by New York’s Handel Architects. By completing a project that had been abandoned by two previous developers, iStar will rid Asbury Park of a concrete eyesore that has been vacant for more than 20 years.
