The restoration of the nearly 97-year-old Asbury Park Convention Hall complex on the Asbury Park boardwalk recently secured significant funding after officials from Trenton agreed to partially fund the $130 million project.
The project, which encompasses the restoration of the Convention Hall, the Grand Arcade and the Paramount Theater, landed a $75 million award from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s Cultural Arts Facilities Expansion Program (CAFE). Resources from the program will fund the rehabilitation of the complex’s mechanical and structural systems, architecture, and ADA improvements.
The convention hall complex has been closed since 2021 due to structural safety concerns, the EDA and the city of Asbury Park said in prepared statements.
A report in the Asbury Park Press says the award for the convention hall project is the largest issued by the EDA’s CAFE program, which only began accepting applications last year. The applicant and owner of the complex, Washington D.C.-based real estate firm Madison Marquette, also has a pending application before the EDA for an $8 million tax credit through the agency’s historic reinvestment program.
News of the tax credit award comes months after professionals working on behalf of Madison Marquette informed the city council that the contractor hired to restore the Paramount Theater, March Associates Construction, had dropped out of the project. A March report in The Coaster said the project encompasses the reconstruction of the roof, masonry renewal, and structural steel repairs.
The exterior work on the theater must be completed by the end of the year to secure $11.7 million from Trenton’s Boardwalk Preservation Grant program, which was created under former Governor Phil Murphy’s administration, according to the report.
That update from the contractor came one day before the mayor and city council were expecting to vote on a resolution to authorize a second addendum to the agreement with Madison Marquette.
Gary Mottola, the president of Madison Marquette, issued a press release thanking the EDA, the governor’s office, the city council, the mayor of Asbury Park, and state Senator Vin Gopal for the tax credit award and their advocacy for the restoration of the convention hall complex.
While the new round of EDA funding may provide a tax credit that covers over half of the estimated cost of restoring the convention hall complex, it is unlikely that residents of Asbury Park will view the real estate firm favorably.
Madison Marquette also owns the Casino and Carousel building on the Asbury Park boardwalk. Those properties are also slated for rehabilitation; however, progress toward their reopening has been slow, keeping the relationship between residents and the developer tenuous.
A July report in the Asbury Park Press said that over 200 residents voiced concerns about the restoration of the historic buildings along the boardwalk and criticized the city council for not taking legal action against the real estate firm.
The Asbury Park Convention Hall complex was built in the late 1920s and early 1930s. It was designed by the New York-based architectural firm Warren & Wetmore, which also designed several hotels in Atlantic City and Grand Central Terminal in New York City. The complex was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
