---

The Asbury Park City Council voted Wednesday to grant conceptual approval on a re-adaptive use project to turn the Salvation Army building, located at 200 Fifth Avenue, into a boutique hotel.

Master waterfront redeveloper iStar Financial brought in Manhattan-based architectural firm Stonehill & Taylor  to transform the long-vacant building into an 110-room hotel with a swimming pool, event space, bars and a rooftop lounge. Some of the firm’s previous historic restoration projects include the NoMad, Ace, Plaza and Paramount hotels in New York City.

The vote was 5-0.

Councilman John Moor, who sits on the Technical Review Committee [TRC] as a member of the city’s planning board, said the  presentation given at the last TRC meeting on the project was “excellent” and the committee “was very excited about it.”

“I’ve got to give iStar credit, we said ‘step it up a notch’ and they stepped it up a notch, it’s a great project and is very much needed,” Moor said.

Mayor Myra Campbell said the hotel will bring an increase in job opportunities to a city where jobs for residents are needed.

Deputy Mayor Sue Henderson agreed the project is necessary to further the city’s development and she is interested to see the building finished, she said.

Interior design elements, along with the name of the hotel, will be revealed as the project begins to take shape, Brian Cheripka, vice president of land for iStar, previously told the Sun.

A spring 2016 opening is planned.

The planning board must give final approval on the project.

If successful, it will be the first time in a half century a new hotel has been developed in the city, according to plans submitted by the developer.

[Rendering at top provided by iStar Financial.]

————————————————————

Follow the Asbury Park Sun on Facebook and Twitter.

---