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Downtown developer Sackman Enterprises has closed on the purchase of the historic Kinmouth building at a purchase price of $2.47 million, according to city records.

Sackman will move forward with plans to rehabilitate the Savoy Theatre, a 100-year-old former Vaudeville venue that has been vacant for decades located inside the building, and add a residential component of  52 studio apartments, according to Carter Sackman, president of Sackman Enterprises.

The building is located at 710 Mattison Avenue Avenue, less than one block from Main Street and City Hall, and one block from Cookman Avenue.

Plans for the building’s rehabilitation were approved in March of last year by the city’s planning  board prior to the building’s purchase on April 11.

The developer is in the midst of finalizing the redeveloper’s agreement with the city, according to Sackman, and will utilize the same board-approved plan for the building rehabilitation.

The 52 so-called “micro” units will be equipped with hide-able Murphy beds and kitchenettes, with the majority of the units costing around $700  per month with an average 250 square feet of space. The plan calls for renovation of commercial space on the ground floor, as well.

The residential component will subsidize the the cost of the theatre, Sackman said.

“That is where the good will of Asbury Park has always been and will continue to be today, in the arts and entertainment,” Sackman said.

Tenants will be able to watch all performances in the Savoy Theatre from a third-floor screening room, which will be built from the venue’s former projection room. Sackman is also planning a deck and a fitness center for the roof of the building.

Sackman also recently took ownership of the parking lot in the block across the street from the Kinmouth building, also known locally as the Magyar Bank site here he will maintain a total 64 underground and surface parking spots, mostly for tenants. A structural engineer has been tasked with assessing the site, he said.

The developer is also under contract to purchase a building that housed a dentist’s office and lot across directly opposite of the Kinmouth building. Mixed-use and residential units are planned for those locations, he said.

Within the last decade, downtown Asbury Park has been burgeoning with new restaurant and retail businesses. Sackman is focusing his efforts on providing more residential spaces to ensure stability of the growing business district and to satisfy the demand for more living spaces, he said.

“I think in the downtown, we need residential,” he said.

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