Report: IStar to propose hotel and condos at Esperanza site
Sixteen story building to house 130 condos and a 58-room luxury hotel
Master waterfront redeveloper iStar Residential will propose a luxury hotel and condominiums in a sixteen story building to rise from the long moribund Esperanza site on the central waterfront, according to a report posted on line by the New York Times.
IStar Chairman Jay Sugarman says that the new building will have 130 condominiums and a 58 room luxury hotel. The Times did not report when the plans would be made public, with Sugarman only saying “soon”.
IStar’s Senior Vice President for Land and Development Brian Cheripka, who is iStar’s point man in Asbury Park, could not be immediately reached for comment.
The site has seen two high-rise projects abandoned in the past 25 years, with the most recent being the Esperanza project where work was stopped at the end of 2007. The earlier unsuccessful project, known as C-8 for the designation of the block in the redevelopment zone, stood for years as an unfinished open steel structure before it was demolished about a decade ago.
From the New York Times article:
In what iStar is calling a pivotal moment, the company will soon seek public approval for its plans to build a 16-story luxury hotel and condominium on an Ocean Avenue foundation where two prior developers failed.
“We believe in Asbury Park’s potential,” said Jay Sugarman, iStar’s chairman. “I want it to be a cool, creative community where there’s always something going on, where there are always interesting people to run into. To be able to do that in a beachfront environment is the best of both worlds…
Then there is the planned 16-story building on Ocean Avenue, where the columns of the last failed project are still visible. The new building would have 130 condominiums and a 58-room luxury hotel.
“That’ll be our first oceanfront development,” Mr. Sugarman said. “It has an unfortunate history. We’re taking the long view. It requires us going all in, to get the people to believe in it and to gather the talent to make it happen.”
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