By John Burton
SEA BRIGHT – When Tim McLoone reopened his Rum Runner restaurant last Friday, a good friend and longtime customer looked around at the new digs and offered in a deadpan delivery, “Well, that was quick.”
McLoone laughed. Hard. Because, if anything, it hasn’t been quick.
But now that it’s finished and re-opened McLoone is saying, “I think it’s more of a relief than anything,” with the project completed and now up and running.
“I really laughed,” when his friend made that comment, acknowledging he can see the humor in it now, 3 ½ years after his restaurant was destroyed by Super Storm Sandy in Oct. 2012.
McLoone’s Rum Runner, 816 Ocean Ave., has been completely rebuilt, two stories high, now 18 feet higher and on pilings, to hopefully prevent a repeat of the destruction of Oct. 29, 2012. But when he looks around, McLoone offered, “I don’t want to be immodest but I think we hit the mark,” in what he, his family and colleagues hoped to accomplish in constructing the new site.
“My goal here is to have a jewel box of a place that makes you look,” he explained, “but the architecture is such that it looks like it’s always been here, like a home up in the Cape (Cod), or something.”
Explaining further, he said, “What we were really trying to do was build a contemporary, state of the art kind of place and still make you feel warm and cozy.”
To accomplish that, McLoone relied on the guidance of Rumson’s Anderson Campanella Architects, with McLoone’s wife, Beth, and Asbury Park interior designer Jana Manning.
The new restaurant, which will now seat about 297, down from its original 450, continues to overlook the Shrewsbury River. But McLoone acknowledged the old Rum Runner really allowed for about eight tables to have window seats. With the new large picture windows along much of the restaurant, “Now the way it is, almost everybody has a window seat,” he said. “If you don’t have a window seat, you’re not very far away,” from one that offers what McLoone said is “a spectacular view” of the area.
The southern end of the establishment is an indoor/outdoor building, with doors that can fold open making it an outdoor deck and can enclose to be used for the colder months. “We’re hoping to up our business in February – not just July,” he said.
The spot has a working fireplace and will see the return of the legendary piano bar with Barbara King and Bruce Foster, regulars at the Rum Runner for the better part of 25 years. McLoone is again expected to perform with the Shirleys, as they had regularly prior to Sandy. “We’ll be just doing our thing,” he said.
On New Year’s Eve 1986, McLoone, who now has a string of restaurants in New Jersey and other states, bought the Rum Runner, a long established Sea Bright watering hole and eatery. He opened the renovated spot in October 1987, under the name McLoone’s Rum Runner. With Sandy, just at the restaurant’s 25th anniversary, the outside deck washed into the river and the building took on more than 6 feet of water, wrecking the structure.
The storm and its aftermath left McLoone and everyone sort of shell shocked and then overwhelmed, as he and his partners in McLoone Management contemplated what to do.
“It was clear there was not enough insurance money to do anything,” in the way of rebuilding, he acknowledged. He received offers for the property, but “purchase offers were so low it didn’t seem right,” he said.
Besides, the restaurant held a lot of sentimental value to McLoone and his family and friends, with many weddings and occasions held there, along with the noteworthy guest appearances by rockers Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi.
With the hands-on assistance of Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, McLoone said, he was able to secure a loan from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority and with additional support from Investors Bank, and the financial cooperation of construction contractors, the Martin Group, the restaurant backers got the money to rebuild. McLoone estimated the finally tally is “north of $7 million,” to rebuild. “It’s a frightening number,” he conceded.
Even with the support available it was a slow, arduous process to wade through the red tape and all of the details (such as the remediation of the property which seemed to take forever and cost $300,000—when everyone thought it would be $50,000), delayed the work and completion.
McLoone told The Two River Times back in January 2014 he expected the work to be done by early 2015.
Now done, “It’s a sparkling place,” and one with a menu designed by McLoone and his executive chef Mike Dolan, with an abundance of appetizers that go for around $20 and entrees for under $30. “Our goal is to make it a really accessible price point for a large number of people,” he said.
“Anyone who walks in there now will see stuff on the menu they can afford to eat.” And a place McLoone said he hopes diners will find welcoming and comfortable
