By Sunayana Prabhu
RED BANK – Another restaurant will soon join the eclectic dining scene in the downtown district. Owners of the historic building on Broad Street next to the former Catch-19 restaurant will transform the existing two-story structure into a three-story restaurant by adding a partial third floor with an outdoor deck and garden.
The Red Bank Zoning Board approved a proposal at its May 16 meeting to renovate the ornate historic building at 21-23 Broad St. The building dates back to the 1920s and features distinctive Art Deco architectural elements like stained glass windows. According to John Anderson, a lawyer representing the owners, it has been vacant since 2012.
“This building has been underutilized, certainly, much to the chagrin of many of the downtown merchants and restaurants and other stakeholders in the town,” said Anderson.
Applicant Marco Savo of 21-23 Broad Street LLC presented plans to gut the building from the basement up and make some exterior improvements to the facade. The proposed restaurant would occupy all three floors, with the kitchen and storage located on the ground floor and dining rooms on the second and third floors.
RiverCenter, the borough’s promotional agency, and the Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) have extensively reviewed the project’s exterior renovations. Both entities endorsed it: River Center with no changes and the HPC with minor changes to the color palette, a tiled entryway and a plaque detailing the building’s history, which Savo has agreed to.
Savo said he envisions creating a unique dining experience with elements of a supper club from the 1940s and ’50s, a kind of “Great Gatsby feel,” he said during the meeting, allowing patrons to enjoy fine dining along with live music or entertainment without feeling rushed.
Board member Vincent Light asked Savo to clarify if he plans to do the renovations regardless of whether or not he has a tenant; Savo confirms he will.
“You plan on just being the landlord? You’re not going to operate the restau rant? So, all this restaurant discussion is hypothetical right now?” Light asked.
“Yes. It’s hypothetical,” Savo said, adding that restaurant businesses have approached him. He also said he wouldn’t be opposed to operating the business himself, because then “I have the say and I have this vision that I want to do for Red Bank.”
The project required three variances from the zoning board. With no parking lot on the small urban site, a variance is needed to waive the required 143 parking spaces. A set-back variance is required for a proposed elevator and stairwell addition at the rear of the third floor. A floor area ratio (FAR) variance is needed to allow for 455 additional square feet with this addition.
Architect and planner Edward W. O’Neill Jr. testified that the exterior renovations, like repairing the facade and replacing windows, would preserve the building’s Art Deco style. The interior would be fully renovated to install an ADA-compliant elevator, expand the stairwell, and add bathrooms. O’Neill said the small rear addition would be discreetly located and not visible from the street or impact neighbors.
Traffic engineer Daniel Klein presented a parking and traffic analysis. The proposed fine dining restaurant would generate fewer trips on weekday mornings and evenings than the previously approved uses of office, retail and a jazz club/event space. On Saturdays, the restaurant would generate approximately 50 more trips during peak hours, Klein said, compared to previous uses. Klein noted these trips would be distributed throughout Red Bank’s many parking lots, not concentrated in one area, and would not significantly impact traffic flow.
The zoning board approved the application – with member Paul Cagno the sole dissenting vote – with conditions: The liquor license is to be procured by the borough council, drainage issues need to be corrected, and the renovations must comply with historic preservation guidelines, among others.
The approval allows Savo to proceed with interior renovations while seeking a tenant for the proposed restaurant use.
The article originally appeared in the June 6 – June 12, 2024 print edition of The Two River Times.
