“Ice Palace” by Bob Bowné. Asbury Park Carousel Building. January 2015. © Special to Blogfinger.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger Re-posted from 2015.
iStar is the newest developer for the A. Park oceanfront 1 1/4 mile strip. Others have come and gone, but iStar seems to be confident in their plan to create an amazing strip of 20 mixed use projects including a 110 room hotel to be finished this summer and a new 34 unit condominium complex.
Vive condo project sold out in one day in 2013 and then repeated the feat for phase two. I love to walk by Vive; its design, colors and layout seem so inviting to me. Grovers need relief sometimes from Victorian architecture.
Asbury Park is going places with professional creative planning and above-board management. What a difference when compared to the wannabe North End project in the Grove.
Undoubtedly those Ocean Grove developers want to hitch their wagon to an iStar and create Asbury Park, Jr. at the OG North End. But they are so proud of their plan that they are hiding under their beds while waiting for the shenanigans to slither through. Don’t hold your breath for the names behind WAVE to be revealed. They seem to be ashamed of their project—it’s been dormant since 2008, and an ugly site remains.
TONY BENNETT AND THE RALPH SHARON ORCHESTRA AT CARNEGIE HALL (1962)
I will be disappointed if the carousel building goes away, however, the inside of it and the steam plant are in really bad shape. There is some serious cracking in the exterior upper walls that face the “Boardwalk” I dont know how useable the steam plant is.
Editor’s note: In 2015, a photographer turned the inside of the steam plant into an objet d’art. Here is a link:
https://blogfinger.net/2015/01/05/what-the-heck-is-that-tall-tower-next-to-the-casino/
Critic : Strongly disagree ! Steamplant & Casino are not eyesores . They are beautiful historic buildings . If restored they will be magnificent . Most certainly they should not be demolished . Palace was demolished and now it is a parking lot . “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot ” – Joni Mitchell .
Critic, I think I read recently that the developer is currently working on plans for the Casino and Steam Plant. I think the both could be fantastic if restored.
I really hope that this AP developer realizes that it is time to demolish that steam plant/Casino eyesore and makes that space a pleasant area to
go to and from the new Asbury Park Boardwalk.
As for the Grove’s North End “White Whale”—-the Atlantic will deal with that!