City Still Discussing Broadway Arts Center With Developer

An agreement between Long Branch and a developer for the Broadway Arts Center is still being discussed.

"There is a developer who is more than interested in making this happen," Todd Katz, one of the principals of the Broadway Arts Center, said this week. "They already have preliminary design plans submitted to the city."

The developer, Diversified Realty Advisors, would need approval by the Long Branch Council and the city planning board before any changes in redevelopment zone could begin. They would also have to foreclose on the property before the city could sign a redevelopment agreement with the group.

The city approved a design plan for former Broadway Arts Center developer Broadway Arts Center LLC, but financial problems and foreclosure proceedings stopped the project. The new developer would likely have new plans for the area.

The Broadway Arts Center includes almost 200 properties, several vacant lots and 72 acres of the Broadway Corridor and encompasses area east of Liberty Street to Long Branch Avenue. 

Katz said the new redevelopment plan would likely call for "the demolition of a good portion of the buildings and rebuilding them."

Katz said if the city does sign a redevelopment agreement with Diversified Realty Advisors, that the group envisions starting work "at the beginning of the next year."

Katz said there is a plan to clean up the Lower Broadway area in the interim and that he is working with the city's Urban Enterprise Zone program and the Long Branch Police to get something started in the next 3-4 weeks.