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The green-tinged decorative copper panels that went missing from Convention Hall recently are largely considered to be gone for good, but an official from Madison Marquette announced at last night’s council meeting the boardwalk redeveloper will replace them.

“It is a tragedy,” said Keith Ortner, Madison Marquette’s vice president of development. “We as a company are incredibly disappointed that this happened. It’s not like we were flagrant or irresponsible in treating these panels with the utmost in care.”

The panels [seen in the above photo] were covering a portion of Convention Hall “that needed to be temporarily supported,” he said. To provide that support, Madison Marquette, which owns Convention Hall, removed the panels and placed them in storage in the Sunset Avenue Pavilion. The panels were purely decorative, Ortner said.

The panels were stored “in a secure portion of the building,” he said. Also, much of that area of town is under camera surveillance provided by both Madison Marquette and the city and “unfortunately, this person was aware of that,” Ortner said. The theft was not caught on camera, according to Police Chief Mark Kinmon.

“The panels will be back,” he said. “We’re not sure exactly when. When the building is ready to receive the panels, they will be recreated. We miss them just as much as everyone in this room does and we will be replacing them with copper.”

Ortner had attended the earlier workshop meeting to present architectural plans for the Sunset Avenue Pavilion. He spoke about the panels after council members James Bruno and John Loffredo asked the police chief and city manager about the investigation.

Chief Kinmon also spoke about the incident, detailing his department’s investigation of the alleged theft. The case has been declared inactive after the department exhausted all investigative leads, he said. The department was able to charge a former employee with a separate theft incident as a result of this investigation, but did not have sufficient information to charge that same person with the theft of the copper panels.

Members of the Asbury Park Historical Society also attended the meeting to comment on the panels. That organization is offering a $5,000 reward to anyone who brings forth information about the alleged theft.

For a previous story on the loss of the panels, click here.

 

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