Shafto Road development plans evolving
Planned Avaya site
scaled back from
two buildings to one
By elaine van develde
Staff Writer

Whatever effect an economic slowdown may be having, development along the Shafto Road corridor in Tinton Falls appears to be thriving.

It wasn’t long ago that Tinton Falls Mayor Ann McNamara said the area was ripe for ratables. As part of her campaign pledge this year, she said that the area couldn’t be a better spot in which to plant an office/business hub.

The road, she had said, is designed to handle any added infrastructure strain, and its positioning makes it an ideal place for residents and commuters alike. The recently expanded roadway is far enough from neighborhoods to have virtually no effect on them, and its proximity to major thoroughfares, such as the Garden State Parkway, is close enough to please any corporation, she said.

No sooner did McNamara endorse growth in the area than plans for a new office complex were put before the Planning Board.

According to Councilman Jerome Donlon, a Planning Board member, at the June 27 board meeting, preliminary site plans to build the Newport Corporate Center, a three-building, three-story office complex on 14.5 acres of land near West Park Avenue off Shafto, were approved.

The plans, which are not yet set in stone, call for the construction of two three-story, 60,000-square-foot facilities and one 40,000-square-foot office structure, making the total buildout 160,000 square feet, Donlon said.

There are no tenants booked for the corporate center yet. The complex will be completed as a "build-to suit" project. In commercial real estate terms, that means the tenants will specify their individual needs and wants, and the building will be constructed in accordance with their input.

Though Donlon said there are no tenants yet, he confirmed that the builder is CJS Investments (Caruso Brothers) of Ocean.

"We’ve seen drawings of what the buildings would look like: landscaping, parking and lighting," Donlon said. "But to ensure that residents (within 200 feet) are kept on top of everything, we will be noticing the public again. All residents in that area were actually already given an opportunity to come in and meet with the builder so questions could be answered in a less intimidating, informal atmosphere. A good number of residents showed up."

Donlon said the board encourages public input and said one resident who lives in a nearby condominium expressed concern about buffering and potential traffic problems. All residents will have the chance to voice their concerns at another public hearing on the plans.

In another Shafto Road development project, the 430,000 square feet of office space slated to be built by Towsend Capital, Md., to house Avaya Communications will now encompass one building instead of the two the plans originally called for.

To officials’ knowledge, the developer still intends to construct and absorb the cost of a 25-acre, full-scale recreation area that would be open to the public on the site.