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From bathroom to Convention Hall façade upgrades, there are a few new offerings, shifts, and developments underway along the Asbury Park Boardwalk.  

Improvements to the legendary Convention Hall, originally constructed in 1929, gets underway this month, according Madison Marquette spokeswoman Pasquelina DeBoer said.

The boardwalk redeveloper will begin by focussing on steel and brickwork repairs, she said. More specifically, brick surrounding specific exterior columns will be removed to allow engineers to perform façade probes and inspections.

“This is done to examine the impact of time and oceanfront elements on the structure,” DeBoer said. “The areas where brick will be removed will be temporarily covered as steel is assessed and repaired in order to keep the building as weather-tight as possible until the masonry can be restored.”

The information gathered will then be utilized by the DC-based company’s architects and engineers to craft solutions to restore the building’s entire façade, she said. It will be an ongoing process and will include repairs to the buildings piers and promenades.

DeBoer said all businesses, venues and restrooms will remain open and accessible during normal operating hours because the work will take place from 7 to 11 a.m. and at non-operating locations throughout the day.

“Design and engineering teams are currently working not only to protect and restore these historic icons but to actively reimagine and further expand the uses,” Project Director George Ladyman Jr [at right] said in December. “A significant portion of this work is behind the scenes and never seen, but is essential in enabling us to deliver greater depth and quality of experience.”

Madison has also embarked on a restroom upgrade, that will include its Men’s Beach Bar Bathroom, Women’s Concourse Bathroom [all 3 connecting rooms], Men’s Concourse Bathroom [inside Convention Hall], and North Promenade Anchor’s Bend Bathrooms [Women’s & Men’s facilities].

“We will restore and preserve existing original elements of the bathrooms and will replace all plumbing fixtures to electronic hands-free toilet flushers and sink faucets,” DeBoer said. “Signage will be posted to direct the public and event attendees with all rerouting to temporary restroom trailers, located on the West Loggia by the Paramount Theatre.”

The bathroom renovations are just over 50 percent complete and will be ongoing thru early September, DeBoer said.

This past month also saw new retail offerings by local entrepreneurs.

Madison Marquette welcomed back Kay Harris and her Asbury Galleria, now located in the Splash Park container pop up.

An Asbury Park native, Harris was among one of the first business owners to take a chance at running a year round venture along the Asbury Park Boardwalk. Harris offers beach sundries and an array of historic memorabilia.

At the other end of the boardwalk Madison Marquette welcomed another local entrepreneur – Home Drug Store’s’ Vishal ‘Vic’ Sood. Along with partners Tom Slaughter and Joe DeMaria, Sood has opened Shore Things sundry shop in the Grand Arcade.

The popular downtown Playa Bowls, owned by Abby Taylor and Robert Giuliani, has joined Bettie’s Bombshells and Havaianas in the soon to be completed Fifth Avenue Pavilion. Playa Bowls, which partnered with Cookman Avenue Juice Beach in May 2017, also has a food truck offering in Madison Marquette’s popular North Eats food truck court, located between Seventh and Eighth avenues. 

The Pavilion features the rebuilding of the long shuttered bandshell, featuring 238 stadium seats, a dance floor and raised stage, ADA accessibility, and adjacent to a new rooftop restaurant and bar offering with floor to ceiling retractable windows that lends to an open air cafe feel. And as reported earlier, Iron Whale, a new seafood restaurant featuring Executive Chef Michael Dolan, is on track to open in November.

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