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Appraisal reports for Bradley Cove by two independent contractors are expected to be complete by October, Councilman Joe Woerner has announced.

Waterfront redeveloper iStar Financial has the right to build 15 townhouses on the .6 acre  beachfront property located in the current Ocean Avenue right-of-way from the sewerage treatment plant north to near the Loch Arbour border.

In June, the city received word of the Department of Environmental Protection [DEP] recommendation of a $1.1 million state Green Acres Grant to be used for its preservation.

Woerner said the first step of ensuring the land’s title is clear as it pertains to the redeveloper’s agreement is complete.

The appraisers will now conduct a sale comparison analysis as opposed to discounted cash flow analysis.

“They will not be looking at the townhomes that were proposed [because] they would be making too many assumptions,” Woerner said of the latter methodology.

He said appraisers would need to know the models’ specifics, number of bedrooms, the units’ sale prices, level of finish and add on, and site development, construction and site work costs.

“All those things would need to be in place to say these 15 units are worth this [amount],” Woerner said.

Instead appraisers will determine how much the tract is worth at its highest and best use, Woerner said.

City Planner Michele Alonso has begun the application process to apply for a matching $250,000 Monmouth County grant.

That would make a total of $1.35 million available toward preserving the .6 acre tract.

Brian Cheripka, iStar’s senior vice president of land and development, has said they will work with the city but his company must receive fair market value for the development rights — what Cheripka has noted iStar must pay when it acquires land in the waterfront redevelopment zone.

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