---

Demolition began today on several structures as part of a streetscape improvement project for a largely vacant stretch of Cookman Avenue and nearby streets.

Crews started demolishing some structures on Asbury Avenue today [pictured above]. The Club Phoenix building on Cookman Avenue is tentatively scheduled for demolition on Thursday, according to Brian Cheripka of waterfront redeveloper Asbury Partners.

The project is meant to help link the downtown and the oceanfront by promoting pedestrian foot traffic. New sidewalks, lighting, curbing and landscaping are being installed, with a project completion goal of July 4, Cheripka has previously told the Sun. Asbury Partners is paying for the improvements which Cheripka has said will cost in excess of $500,000.

The Club Phoenix was a go-go rock bar open for about a decade until the late 1990s. Previously, the building had housed the Odyssey gay nightclub from the early 1970s through the mid-1980s. Asbury Partners purchased the site in recent months.

“The current environment does not encourage people to walk from the [downtown] central business district to the waterfront. Between the old buildings boarded up and the general lack of upkeep, it discourages people from making that connectivity,” Cheripka previously told the Sun.

Cheripka is Vice President of Land for iStar Financial, which took over Asbury Partners in 2010, after the former owners of Asbury Partners defaulted on loans made to it by iStar. The financial services company has installed Cheripka in Asbury Park to oversee the waterfront redevelopment project.

The streetscape improvements will also include upgrades at Asbury Avenue where it borders the triangular lot across from Wesley Grove, Cheripka has said. Improvements will also be made on First and Second Avenues near their intersections with Kingsley.

---