Project would bring new use to former warehouse
Anderson project seeks approval for fourth story, 23 apts.
BY LAYLI WHYTE
Staff Writer

Rendering of the redeveloped Anderson Storage building.

RED BANK - Red Bank-based developer Metrovation, is seeking approval to renovate the more than 100-year-old Anderson Storage warehouse building at the corner of Bridge Avenue and Monmouth Street.

Plans call for the warehouse to become a mixed use, retail/residential development.

Metrovation's application before the borough Zoning Board can now go forward, after a recent ruling by Superior Court Judge Alexander Lehrer that found that no conflict exists in Zoning Board member Thomas Williams hearing the application.

With conflict of interest charges put to rest, Williams chaired the Zoning Board's second hearing on the application last week.

Lehrer's decision came after William E. Meyer, a Red Bank-based attorney, filed suit against the board and Metrovation claiming that Williams had a conflict of interest that should preclude him from hearing the application.

According to Meyer's complaint, the conflict arose from the fact that Williams is an employee of Irwin Marina, Red Bank, where Metrovation principal Chris Cole docks his boat.

According to Zoning Board attorney Kevin Kennedy, Lehrer found no conflict existed as a result of Williams' employment at the marina, but ordered that, "Mr. Williams not work on the boat owned by Mr. Cole for one year after this application has been adjudicated."

Lehrer's ruling followed a previous finding by the state Superior Court Appellate Division concerning Zoning Board Chairwoman Lauren Nicosia and Cole in a suit also initiated by Meyer.

Cole had been represented by the law firm of McKenna, DuPont, Higgins and Stone, where Nicosia's father is of counsel. The court found there was a conflict inherent in Nicosia hearing a development application by Metrovation, and Nicosia stepped down from hearing the application. Williams chaired the hearing.

Rick Brodsky, attorney for Metrovation, said that his client wanted to proceed with the Anderson Storage hearing, despite the fact that the 45-day appeal period is still pending.

Plans for the Anderson Storage building, located across Bridge Avenue from the Red Bank Train Station, call for 3,640 square feet divided between two retail spaces on the first floor, as well as 17 one-bedroom apartments and six two-bedroom apartments on the above stories.

The variances needed for this project include variances for density, use (mixed-use is not permitted in the zone) and variances for signs and pre-existing setbacks.

The brick masonry building is currently three stories high, and the applicant proposes to construct a fourth story out of glass and steel.

Board member Sam Balacco voiced

concern about keeping the industrial look of the building.

"It just looks like a warehouse to me," he said. "There's a lot of new development in that area. Why did you make this choice?"

Terrance Smith, the project architect who testified for Metrovation, said that he thought this was an intelligent use of existing resources.

"We had a number of structural engineers look at the building," Smith said. "It's in pretty good shape. I think the building still has some life left in it. In many ways, it would have been easier to knock it down and start something new.

"I'm happy that it still looks much like the building it always was, but it will be the new and improved Anderson building. You always want things both ways. You want to see changes, but you still want to recognize it as it always was."

The Anderson building has a mural on its north facing side, and Smith said that it is the intent of the applicant to restore the mural exactly as it was when it was first painted, with the exception of possibly having to move it because some of the upper-story windows will be widened.

"Our intent is to restore it," he said, "and to the extent that we can, follow the mural's same imagery and same message. We need a variance for this."

Smith said that there will be one retail space measuring 1,000 square feet and one retail space measuring 2,600 square feet.

Plans call for eight residential units on each of the second and third floors, and seven units on the fourth floor.

The BR-1 zone, where the building is located, permits buildings to be up to 55 feet high. Smith said that including the addition of the fourth floor, the building would be just under 55 feet at its highest.

Smith explained that height is the result of a staircase that would access the roof and the equipment that would be located there.

The building is currently 37 feet high. The fourth floor will be recessed slightly, so that the current roof line will act as a parapet, Smith said.

The fourth floor will also be set back, said Smith, so as to lessen the visual impact of the increased height on pedestrians.

The new roof will be angled along the south side of the building, sloping downward toward Monmouth Street, and will be slightly less than 50 feet in height.

The north side of the roof would be flat, and that is where equipment, such as heating and air conditioning units, will be placed.

Smith said that it is the intent of the applicant to place solar panels on the south-side roof, which is angled to lend itself to that use.

Donna Smith-Barr, the borough Zoning Officer, said that special approval would not be needed to install solar panels in the BR-1 zone.

The project would provide a total of 61 parking spaces. The requirement calls for 58 spaces for both the retail and residential uses.

James Biegen, the project's civil engineer, said that although there is enough water capacity in the area for the new uses that would be brought by the project, a "booster" would have to be installed because the water pressure would not be adequate.

The application was carried until April 5, when the applicant's traffic engineer and project planner are expected to testify.