Demolition Takes No Holiday in Asbury Park

The following photos, snapped by Asbury Park's City Historian in Exile, show the recent demolitions of homes and buildings on Sewall and Grand avenues. If you look closely you might recognize Aunt Angie's house, with the glass enclosed porch, immoratilized by Angie's niece, documentary maker Christina Eliopoulos, in her film "Greetings from Asbury Park". This property is now owned by iStar Financial, which has demolished buildings on several of the properties it inherited from Asbury Partners, when they defaulted on a $70 million loan from iStar last Thanksgiving. Happy Holidays!

Please see Asbury Radio's previous posts on the cost of these demolitions to the tax payers of the City, who will have to make up the loss of these ratables in their taxes to the City.  The City must amend the waterfront redevelopment agreement with iStar to read no more demolitions until initial phase developments are completed. This language was discussed in public sessions, but apparently eliminated behind closed doors. Private meetings with development rights holders and developers violate the spirit of the Open Public Meetings Act and invariably cost residents aesthetically and costwise.