The Asbury Park Planning Board has granted restauranteur Johnny McGillion the right to keep the festooning affixed to his 208 Main Street pub and eatery.
Board attorney Jack Serpico said a subcommittee met with project officials to establish new parameters for the Main Street business’ expansion.
The Planning Board granted McGillion final site plan approval for phase three of a four phase expansion project that carries from his flagship Johnny Mac’s House of Spirits at 208 Main Street to the 212 Main Street location formerly known as Bistro Ole. That building will become Mary Mac’s.
The approval called for McGillion’s trademark witticisms and artifacts to be removed but this week an amendment to allow the 208 Main Street was granted.
“The window lettering and festooning we will allow at 208 Main Street and the north wall bric-a-brac,” Serpico said. “There will be no festooning of the proposed marque or façade above it.”
The new guidelines also restrict further festooning along expanded structures’ windows and façades. The festooning along the Mary Mac’s south wall will need to be removed within six months of its zoning permit issuance or no later than April 20, Serpico said.
McGillion said he will agree to the new guidelines and would not move forward with a lawsuit he proposed after the July approvals stipulated he needed to remove the trademark festooning.
When McGillion’s project is complete, the 200 Main Street block will house a beer garden, reception center, two covered outside bars, bathrooms, a new kitchen on the ground level, a second floor mezzanine and bridge, a new façade along Main Street, and roof improvements.
McGillion said his trademark festooning will be a part of the new design’s interior and outdoor spaces but will be shielded from street view by an exterior wall.
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