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A bid for the borough’s largest property within its downtown Main Street Redevelopment zone has been accepted by JCP&L, as first reported Thursday by Sun affiliate triCity News.

The utility’s long-vacant complex sits on a total of 3.34 acres and features three structures, including its signature four story Art Deco building constructed in the late 1920s.

The winning bid was made by Allenhurst Power Station LLC, a group headed by Jon Leidersdorff and Michael Abboud.

No site plan has been submitted but a preliminary presentation was made during a Borough Council meeting, Mayor David McLaughlin said.

“We do not own the building, JCP&L does,” McLaughlin said. “It’s been vacant for 10 years and everyone is very excited to have the property rehabbed and to get someone that will help with cleaning up Main Street. For us it’s a win-win and we are really excited.”

McLaughlin said the JCP&L structure at Main and Hume streets was a former electric trolley barn, used most recently to house the municipality’s Department of Public Works vehicles.

Borough Clerk Donna Campagna said the due diligence period allows the developer to vet site remediation and structural needs, among other things.

“We have since hired a redevelopment attorney,” Campagna said during a late November interview. “We stand waiting for an escrow and developer’s agreement.”

The former was established by resolution during a Dec. 12  Borough Council meeting.

Leidersdorff, who founded and subsequently expanded the Lakehouse Music complex on Lake Avenue in Asbury Park, said he could not comment due to a signed non disclosure agreement.

JCP&L spokesman Ron Morano said the property once housed the utility’s central region headquarters and other business offices. Like Leidersdorff, he could not comment on the details of the pending sale.

“The sale process has yet to be completed, so I cannot comment on bids or sale price,” Morano said.

According to the Borough’s Main Street Redevelopment Plan, adopted in November 2007, an adaptive reuse is proposed for the JCP&L structures.  

The buildings west of Main Street represent the Art Deco style of construction and have significant potential to be adaptively reused as housing and retail, the plan reads. Similarly, the Borough owned DPW/waterworks building at the corner of Hume and Main Streets is a identified local historic landmark, and its tall ceilings and wide openings allow it to be adaptively reused.

Permitted uses include residential, retail, restaurants, and a gym or health club, with a public plaza area and onsite parking.

Accessory uses: Health club, gym and other such recreational facilities associated with the residential uses, parking, including structured parking, signage, and other uses customarily incidental to the principal use.

The existing buildings should be retrofitted to accommodate residential uses on the upper floors, and retail, parking and uses accessory to the residential use [e.g. fitness center] should be provided at the street level, according to the redevelopment plan. The outdoor parking/loading area on Lots 5 and 6 should be converted into a plaza area with green space a fountain or any other form of public art. The existing loading spaces within buildings adjacent to the outdoor loading area should be converted to retail storefronts.

According to minutes obtained from the Nov. 14 meeting, Allenhurst Power Station LLC would be asking for some relief from the current redevelopment plan but “they are open very open to the ideas of the Borough and would like to keep the historic look and feel of the town.”

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