Walgreens Looks to Build at Former Rassas Site

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By John Burton
RED BANK – A proposal to build a Walgreens pharmacy – with a drive-through window – is in the works for the Broad Street site of the former Rassas Buick auto dealership.
The proposal is sparking interest and concern from some area residents.
The borough planning and zoning department has received an application to construct a 14,200 square-foot pharmacy at the 375 Broad St. location that had housed Rassas for about 70 years.
The application, submitted by Mark Development, is seeking to build a pharmacy that would have 11,200 square feet of retail space on its first floor and a 3,000 square-foot mezzanine. Mark Development also indicated it planned site improvements, including off-street parking, landscaping and lighting, according to the application.
The application did not contain any additional information as to the number of parking spaces proposed.
The principals in Mark Development are Robert S. Korff, Newton, Mass., listed as president, and Marc Steinberg, New York City. Each owns a 50 percent share of the company.
Attempts to contact the partners were not immediately successful on Wednesday.
The property is still currently owned by Aaron Rassas, Rumson, who had used 12,000 square feet of the site for his auto dealership.
According to planning and zoning office employees, once people became aware of the application, it spurred public interest. The office has received telephone calls inquiring and complaining about the plan, mostly from Little Silver residents, who live nearby.
The application contains a traffic report, done by Atlantic Traffic and Design Engineers, Warren. That report said the use “would not generate a significant increase of new traffic when compared to previous use.” The “significant increase” was based on state Depart­ment of Transporta­tion and Institute of Traffic Engineers’ definition meaning “a peak hour increase of 100 or more vehicular trips,” according to the report.
The application will be heard by the borough planning board, following the planning and zoning department’s review, but no date has been set.