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An 11-story building located in downtown Asbury Park is set to be refurbished after the planning board approved the owners’ proposal Monday night.

Known as the Gas Building, the art deco structure at the corner of Bangs Avenue and Emory Street dates back to the 1920s, said Jim Watt, a co-owner and the architect of the project. It was originally built for an electric company. A gas company later moved in. Currently, its first floor is vacant, as are floors six through 11. Floors two through five house offices.

Watt first focused on the exterior of the building in his testimony before the planning board.

“This is a stunning piece of architecture and it’s under-appreciated in its current state,” he said. “It was a feat of engineering as well as art in the ’20s when it was built … This building deserves to be a beacon of the downtown.”

The owners plan to power-wash the building, which should make a big difference in its appearance, Watt said. They also hope to install architectural feature lighting to highlight the building’s design details.

Watt and his co-owners plan to put a restaurant in the first floor of the building. Although they’ve previously said the restaurant would have vegan food, the concept is still up in the air, Watt said.

Floors two through five will remain office space. Floors six through 11 will house 23 duplex condominium units, Watt said.

The front doors will be flanked by two large gas lamps as a nod to the building’s former occupants, Watt said. The elevators will be completely redone, but will retain the brass detailing and art deco features.

The building will be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act [ADA] accessibility standards after it’s renovated, Watt said, which includes installation of new elevators.

The condominiums on the upper floors will each occupy two floors, so elevators will only stop at every other floor from floor six and up, to decrease hallway space and increase usable square footage. Each unit’s living space will take up its upper floor and one, two or three bedrooms will occupy the lower floor, Watt said.

Two units on the 11th floor will have stairs with access to roof decks, with wet bars that have running water. The roof deck areas will take up 7.7 percent of the roof area, Watt said, well below the 20 percent allowed in the central business district.

The building currently hosts cellular equipment from several providers on the roof. Watt and the other owners are asking the cell companies to move the equipment away from the roof tops and to paint it the same color as the structure so it blends in, Watt said.

The first-floor restaurant requires two air shafts, which would run up the back of the building, Watt said. Board member Robert Feinstein asked if the shafts could be placed inside the building, but Watt said that would decrease usable square footage and would be “a significant undertaking” because of the building’s concrete and steel structure.

Instead, Watt agreed to look at covering the shafts with material that is the same color as the building so they would be less visible. Covering the cellular equipment in a similar way is also a possibility, city planning engineer Diane Nero said.

The building’s owners are being required to secure a performance bond to ensure they close up and secure some old coal bins that exist under the sidewalk near the property.

Construction should be finished within 12 months, Watt said. The owners anticipate the first six residential units will be ready for occupancy within six months.

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[Note: The Asbury Park Sun’s parent publication, the triCityNews, rents office space in this building.]

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