“Oceanside Passage.” Madison Marquette.
Paul Goldfinger, Editor Blogfinger.net
In an ingenious architectural coup, the developers of the Asbury Park oceanfront have found a beautiful and quick way to restore people traffic to and from Ocean Grove at the A. Park border. They have devised the Oceanside Passage along the edge of the beach: walk back and forth and watch the ocean–it’s more than you can do on the OG boards. And be careful with those bikes.
There will be art along the way, and an ambitious development of the Casino area is anticipated eventually including restaurants, shops and an amphitheater for the Stone Pony to entertain 5,000 music fans. Since the developers at Asbury will have to first reconstruct their north end, ours will take a long time to be done.
How this will effect Ocean Grove, especially its proposed North End Redevelopment Plan is unclear.
OG has been entangled by that plan since 2007, and lately the developer OGNED has, we heard, been tied up in the courts over rejection by the OG Historic Preservation Commission.
It looks like Neptune should back off and restore original single family zoning over there. At least there would be a residential neighborhood to buffer the grandiose effects north of the border and give a sense of nature, family, and the calming OG porch culture.
Otherwise our north end will become Asbury Park South.
And noise? How many of you heard the horrid noisy racket echoing in our direction yesterday all day long–Sunday due to loud undigestible “rock” being amplified from the edge of Wesley Lake, Asbury side. It was one band after another.
Our serenity was violated on a calm OG Sunday, and no one found a way to put a stop to it. Now imagine the new Asbury Casino district. There is a brief video below showing what was going on over there.
Note from David Fox: 5/23/23:
If the roof beams of the Casino are unsafe, what about the eastern wall?
I am aware that new steelwork was installed there when the major part of the building was demolished after a fire and neglect.
The redevelopers are great at producing architectural renderings, but not at actually building anything. I recall an earlier one for the Casino with amusement rides, etc., but nothing ever came of it.
The OG North End has been in limbo since 1977 when the Aldersgate “life care community” fell through.
Meanwhile the passageway will save the day for Grovers who love to go back and forth from AP.
THE FLIRTATIONS: