In May 2018, the Asbury Park Press interviewed Jack Green about the North End Redevelopment:
The paper quoted him: “I think it’s exciting to finally have something move forward,” said Jack R. Green, a real estate broker who lives in Ocean Grove. He said, “The new development will help Ocean Grove compete with tourism in Asbury Park.”
“We always had the North End Hotel, which was kind of our boardwalk commercial area,” Green said. “I’ve missed it since it was gone.”
That quote has stuck with me. Mr. Green’s family has been an important leader in Ocean Grove for generations, so did he really envision Ocean Grove as “competing with tourism in Asbury Park?”
And do many Grovers want to see the old North End Hotel commercial area brought back?
I have no idea, because the Home Groaners do not survey the views of the Grover residential community, and very few residents ever speak their minds on this subject.
But it is now academic, because the NERP seems to be a fait accompli.
In the future, when Grovers walk over there their views of Asbury, Wesley Lake, the boardwalk, the beach and the ocean will be inhibited by condos, a hotel, stores, more single family homes and whatever else the architects will be allowed to stick into the sand.
And who knows what the old Pavilion (“White Whale”) will become on the beach at the North End.
STEPHEN STILLS AND NEIL YOUNG “Long May You Run”
“We’ve been through
Some things together
With trunks of memories
Still to come
We found things to do
In stormy weather
Long may you run.”
This sounds like a first step before digging begins. Meanwhile, it was revealed at the last Home Groaners’ meeting that the OGNED re-developers are going to present new plans to the HPC.
Two weeks ago, workers cut down shrubbery and scrub trees remaining around the old swimming pool. On the weekend, a man walked from one end of the property to the other spraying the ground — whatever was green there is now brown. Does this mean something is happening? How on earth can one find out? Jean Tracy
I spent many vacations at the Quaker Inn before we owned a house in Ocean Grove.
Part of the “charm” of an old hotel, to me, was the squeaky floors and the shuffling to the bathroom in the middle of the night.
I remember renting a room on the third floor, and a pencil rolled off the dresser because the floor was a little crooked.
I would still choose this over modern any day!
David H. Fox,
You say “Ultimately it is the locals that have to decide what is built” at the North End.
But you are assuming that Neptune Township is guided by The
New Jersey State Municipal Land Use Law.
Not so.
As just one example, from this application for development, both the entire project and a redeveloper were approved ahead of time (with no advertised bidding for a public project) before the Township gave Public Notice of any PUBLIC MEETINGS for the North End.
David, your statement is correct for towns that obey the law.
I do not live in OG and visit only occasionally by train. There were times this past summer when I would have liked to have stayed the night, but all the hotels were sold out. The only exceptions were those with facilities “down the hall.” OG could use more modern hotel facilities with things like an elevator and structure where the whole floor is not awakened by someone walking down the hall. Many hotel rooms have been lost by conversions to condos. The proposed North End hotel is not all that different from the larger 19th C. hotels in AP and OG that are long gone. The townhouses are something foreign to OG. I hope nothing is built on the beach. Ultimately, it is the locals that have to decide what is built.