Asbury Lanes building ownership to transfer to Asbury Partners
Fasano plans restaurant across from Porta in next few years
Ownership of the Asbury Lanes building is changing hands from Pat Fasano and Vince Gifford to waterfront redeveloper Asbury Partners.
The switch is part of a land exchange wherein Fasano and Gifford will give Asbury Partners three lots, and Asbury Partners will give them three lots. The transfer of deeds will likely take place lot-by-lot over the next few months, Fasano said.
Fasano and Gifford will continue to lease the Asbury Lanes from Asbury Partners until Sept. 15, 2015, Fasano said today. After that, Asbury Partners may decide to move the Lanes elsewhere, he said.
A publicist representing iStar Financial, the majority owner of Asbury Partners, declined to provide any information about the transfer, the future of the Asbury Lanes, or a timeline for when the exchanges will be finalized.
iStar Financial’s vice president of land, Brian Cheripka, has also said in the past that the waterfront redeveloper may eventually move the Asbury Lanes to a different part of town.
Fasano will not sell the Asbury Lanes liquor license to Asbury Partners, he said, but will likely use it at a new restaurant he’s planning to build over the next few years on Second Avenue, across the street from Porta Pizzeria.
Fasano, Gifford and waterfront redeveloper Asbury Partners negotiated the land exchange, which the city council approved at its April 3 meeting. The waterfront redevelopment agreement dictates that Asbury Partners must receive approval from the city whenever it conveys land in the redevelopment zone to a new owner, city redevelopment and planning director Donald Sammet said.
The Asbury Lanes is one of seven lots Asbury Partners designated for acquisition through eminent domain. Asbury Partners published a list of the properties last July. It has since acquired the Salvation Army building and several other properties.
Fasano and Gifford gave up the Lanes, a residential lot next to the Lanes on Fourth Avenue, and the cottage on the corner of First Avenue and Kingsley Street, adjacent to Porta.
In exchange, Asbury Partners will give Fasano and Gifford three scattered sites between Second and Third avenues, bordering Kingsley Street. Those sites are not contiguous on their own, Fasano said, but they connect the other lots Fasano and Gifford own on that block. They now own more than half of the block.
Fasano and Gifford are planning a residential development in addition to the planned tapas restaurant on that block, Fasano said. The architecture will be Spanish-inspired, to keep the look of the corridor consistent with the Spanish-inspired apartment complexes across the street.
Fasano is happy with the way Asbury Partners is handling redevelopment, he said. This is not the first time he’s been asked to give up land for a redeveloper.
When the first iteration of Asbury Partners stepped into the waterfront, that group asked Fasano to sell them the Wonder Bar, the Fastlane, the Baronet Theatre and a paint store. Fasano had been prepping to redevelop some of the lots, “but they basically stopped me and said they didn’t want the city issuing permits,” he said.
Fasano sold the lots to Asbury Partners, and they were never developed, he said, although the Wonder Bar continues to function as a tavern and music venue.
Later, iStar Financial took over ownership of Asbury Partners when the original redeveloper defaulted on loans from iStar. Now, iStar Financial owns 75 percent of Asbury Partners, while boardwalk redeveloper Madison Marquette has a 25 percent stake.
“iStar has been wonderful,” Fasano said. “They’re the best thing that happened to us. I’ve never seen the city look so good. They really cleaned up the landscape of Asbury Park.”
Fasano wanted a land exchange instead of a sale this time because he wants a presence in the waterfront.
“I’m not interested in the money,” he said. “I’m interested in being a developer. I’ll have the opportunity to build in the waterfront and I’m looking forward to that opportunity.”
The Asbury Lanes also received new management for day-to-day operations in December 2012, when the owners of Edgar’s Pub in Sea Girt stepped in to oversee the bowling alley, bar and music venue.
