Restaurant, sports bar proposed for Chubby's site
BY MELISSA KARSH Staff Writer

Architect's rendering of the building proposed for 26 W. Front St.

RED BANK - A longtime fixture of borough nightlife would be history if the Zoning Board approves an application to turn a West Front Street night club into a restaurant and sports bar.

The applicant, 26 West Front Street, appeared before the Red Bank Zoning Board of Adjustment Dec. 6 seeking approval of an application to demolish the existing two-story building currently home to Chubby's Waterside Café and to construct a four-story, mixed-use building in its place.

The application calls for a restaurant, which would be named The Bank, on the first and second floors of the building, and two apartments to occupy the third and fourth floors.

"It is the vision of the new operators … to change not only the physical structure of the building from an aesthetic perspective but also the operation itself … to a more familyfriendly restaurant, bar-type use, with a sports end to it as well. It is anticipated that there will be a different crowd that will be frequenting the establishment," said the applicant's attorney, Rick Brodsky of Ansell Zaro Grimm & Aaron.

Architect Anthony P. Busch Jr. said he designed the building, which is located at the corner of West Front Street and Boat Club Court, to be an anchor for West Front Street since the business district extends from Broad Street to both West and East Front streets. He said his design for the building would fit with a lot of the other new buildings in the area.

"Boat Club Court essentially takes us to the river, so my design for the building was set up so that I wanted to bring that streetscape down Boat Club Court. It will drag your eye down to the river and make it a pleasant experience," Busch said of his design.

Chubby's was the scene of a street brawl involving several hundred people after a hip-hop event in October. The melee, which left one police officer injured, led the ownership of Chubby's to agree to a borough-sanctioned ban on hip-hop concerts and had some residents questioning the safety of the borough.

The new four-story building would be built in the footprint of the current building and would not further exacerbate existing variances of the property, according to the planner for the application, Christine Cofone.

She said the current structure violates all of the setback requirements in the zone and is in a state of disrepair.

"This is a very narrow site, we only have 35 feet of frontage, so if we were going to build a structure that actually conformed with the setbacks, we would have a somewhat irregularly shaped building and we would also have a building that's out of character with the area," said Cofone. "To take this redevelopment of the site and propose the actual setback standards for the zone would actually cause this structure to be set back inconsistent with the buildings in the area, which … would have a negative impact in the area."

She added, "The uses and the mixes that we're proposing are specifically permitted in the CCD-2 zone. This use that we're proposing is exactly what the zone plan envisions here."

Principals in the application include current Chubby's owner Michael Gilson, Taso Lyritis, George Lyritis, Greg Milano, Steve Milano and Ted Smith. Two of the principals are the owners of the Bistro at Red Bank restaurant on Broad Street.

While the project requires a "d" variance for floor area ratio, the variance that met the most resistance from board members was a "c" variance for parking, with six parking spaces - four for the residents of the apartments and two for the owners - proposed. Based on the maximum occupancy of the building, about 146 spaces would be required.

"Is it possible that you could just get a little bit more ideas about the parking? It's a beautiful project, and it certainly is going to make things look nicer down there, but if you could just investigate some ideas for [parking] for the next meeting," said Zoning Board Chairwoman Lauren Nicosia.

Nicosia asked the applicant to conduct a parking survey to see how the new establishment would impact parking in the area and to look at other sites that could be used for restaurant parking.

Brodsky and the applicants were concerned about the potential cost for the deficiency in parking, which he said could be about $325,000.

Brodsky asked that the required contribution be based on the increase in the parking deficiency, if any, and not from scratch.

"The distinction being drawn is that if we were simply to renovate the building as opposed to tearing it down, which is the architecturally preferred mechanism, that should not have a $325,000 or thereabout ramification to us," said Brodsky.

The other variances sought include a "d" variance for maximum floor area ratio; and bulk "c" variances for setback from the centerline of the street, for maximum lot coverage, and for deficient open space.

The application still needs to be reviewed by the RiverCenter Visual Improvements Committee and was carried to the Jan. 17 Zoning Board meeting.