Blogfinger

North End of Ocean Grove. Paul Goldfinger photo.  There”s a lot of money at stake in the “redevelopment” of this site.©

Paul Goldfinger, MD,  Editor,  Blogfinger.net

Blogfinger has  learned that the CMA sold its North End redevelopment rights one year ago for a reported amount of $9,000,000.  This suggests that the buyers were quite confident  of approval even before the HPC began its architectural reviews of the OGNED North End plan.

We tried to obtain confirmation of this report from the CMA yesterday by phone, email and an in-person visit to headquarters on Pitman, but evidently their lack of response means “no comment.”

Presumably OGNED investors bought the CMA share of redevelopment rights.  This means that any future profits from the project will not be shared with the CMA.

We don’t know who actually now owns the land at the site, but presumably it is still the CMA, but that question remains to be clarified.

We also assume that if the CMA still owns the land, that they will enjoy future ground rents there, but that is another explosive issue that remains up in the air.

There is one theoretical concern and that is regarding the “redevelopment” designation that was awarded to WAVE and the CMA  in 2007.    That controversial zoning aberration meant that the project would be a public one, supervised by Neptune Township.

Nothing happened to change that fact, but Neptune has stepped aside in recent years regarding the North End Plan, and they have allowed the project to now be called a “development” rather than a “redevelopment” plan.

So, shouldn’t any transfer of development rights have been approved officially by the Neptuners?  Shouldn’t the public have been informed about this possible  legerdemain?   And shouldn’t public transparency have revealed who these investors are?

Having this infusion of money raises the question of what the CMA will do with the funds. One speculation from our source is that the CMA will now be able to implement their obvious plans to expand their programs in the Grove  as revealed in their 2022 Summer Program Guide.  And then there is  their ambition of turning Ocean Grove into a “seaside Christian community.”

Perhaps more information will be forthcoming, and maybe this post will cause more details to be flushed out.

ALOE BLACC:

“Bad times are comin’ and I reap what I done sowed
Hey, hey
Well let me tell you somethin’ all that glitters ain’t gold
Hey, hey
It’s been a long old trouble, long old troublesome road”