By Sunayana Prabhu
HOLMDEL – The former Vonage headquarters is set to be transformed into a senior living community that will include 209 age-restricted residential units and 90 assisted-living units with skilled nursing beds. The developer has agreed to integrate 48 affordable housing units as required under the state’s fair share housing law. Azura at Holmdel will unfold in four phases and incorporates both new construction and adaptive reuse of the existing Vonage building.
At the Sept. 30 Holmdel Planning Board meeting, developer 23 Main Street Urban Renewal, LLC, an affiliate of Bloomfield-based developer Community Healthcare Associates, sought final site plan approval for Phase 1 and preliminary approvals for the remaining three phases. The plan also dedicates a 5-acre parcel to the township for emergency care services while redeveloping the remaining 83 acres of the man Springs Road/Main nearly 88-acre site.
The property is bounded by Holmdel Road (County Route 4) to the east, Newman Springs Road/Main Street (County Route 520) to the south, and Willowbrook, a Category-1 state-designated freshwater stream, to the west.
The proposed development will include a mix of housing types – senior cottages, apartments and condominiums – plus open space, walking paths and internal roadways suitable for bicycling and jogging. A 7,000-square-foot senior center/township meeting hall will be located within the existing building. Additional private amenities may include recreational areas and a fitness room.
“We’re creating a coordinated, integrated community that provides multiple housing types and provisions for continuing care for aging residents,” said Carl Kemp, attorney for the development team.
The once-bustling property was classified as an area in need of redevelopment in July 2024. The township committee adopted the Vonage Redevelopment Plan in January 2025. The existing two-story, 350,000-square-foot office building was constructed in 1977 for Prudential and later served as Vonage’s headquarters until its 2022 acquisition by Ericsson. The property changed hands several times before being purchased in 2023 by Bloomfield-based Community Healthcare Associates for $17.5 million.
Holmdel’s state-mandated affordable housing obligation totals 106 units over the next decade, and officials said the Azura project will help the township meet a significant number of those units.
Phase 1 calls for expanding the existing structure to add 104 condominium units. Phase 2 will add 65 age-restricted cottages. Phase 3 will build the assisted-living facility with 90 units. Phase 4 will complete the remaining 40 units. Site access will continue via existing driveways on Newman Springs Road and Holmdel Road.
Overview of the Four Phases
During Phase 1, the development team will focus on rehabilitating and repurposing the existing two-story office building, explained Mark Zelina, the project’s site engineer, during a special planning board meeting that lasted nearly three hours. A small portion of each quadrant of the existing office building will be demolished to create a bigger interior courtyard and amenities such as a swimming pool and firepits.
A 7,000-square-foot portion of the first floor in the southeast corner of the building will be leased to the township on a long-term basis at no cost.
The office building will be converted into 104 senior living, for sale, condominium units. All units will be 55-plus age-restricted units. Twenty percent, or 21 units, will be set aside as affordable housing. During Phase 1, 319 parking spaces, 20 ADA spots and 48 EV spaces are proposed.
The existing loop road will have pedestrian and cycling infrastructure. Zelina said the loop will include a 6-foot-wide sidewalk on the inner side and a 6-foot-wide bike lane, creating a nearly mile-long trail accessible to both residents and the public. The loop will be enhanced with strategically planted trees and will connect to various interconnecting trails. Additionally, the site will feature two tennis courts and six paddle ball courts, which will be available for both residents and community use.
In Phase 2, 65 townhomes will be built to the west side of the existing building. Thirteen of those units will be affordable, in compliance with the state mandate. For parking, 242 spaces are proposed in this phase, which is “more than what is required. There are only 178 spaces required by the various codes,” Zelina said.
Phase 3 “is a little different than the first two phases in that it’s not within the loop road. It’s at the extreme north end of the site,” Zelina said. The plan for Phase 3 includes a three-story assisted living, memory care and skilled nursing facility with 90 units. Six of those units will be affordable units. For parking, 50 spaces are proposed, including eight ADA-compliant spaces.
The last phase of the development “looks like an infill lot,” Zelina said, as it sits within the loop road, nestled between Phases 1 and 2. This phase will include a three-story senior living apartment building with 40 rental units. In keeping with the state’s affordable housing regulations, eight units – representing 20% of the total – will be designated as affordable housing. Eighty parking spaces are dedicated for this phase.
The developer’s proposal seeks to reduce impervious surface area by nearly seven acres. The site plan includes extensive landscaping, with more than 500 trees and shrubs planned for the buffer zones along Holmdel Road and Main Street.
Concerns Over Wastewater Infrastructure
In terms of utilities and the wastewater management system, Zelina said a large part of Phase 1 is the modernization of the existing wastewater treatment plant, which will be “upgraded to make sure it meets all the current standards for the operation and provide for sanitary sewer service for the entire site itself.” The development will utilize New Jersey American Water for its water supply. Stormwater management has been designed to reduce runoff and improve water quality, Zelina said.
Board members and residents alike expressed ongoing concerns about protecting the watershed, particularly given the site’s critical location near the Swimming River Reservoir and Willowbrook, a freshwater stream that flows nearby.
The stream, identified as the Willowbrook East Branch, is a state-designated Category-1 waterway with specific buffer requirements. The development plans include maintaining 50-foot, 100-foot and 300-foot buffers, with minimal disturbance proposed within these zones.
Planning board member Wes Fagan said the site is in “Planning Area 5 of New Jersey,” which he explained is designated for areas with minimal land disturbance.
“If this project was not grandfathered (previously developed), I have some doubt if this density and the sewer system would be allowed,” Fagan said. “The property really should serve as water recharge for our reservoir, in my opinion, and stormwater funneled directly into storm sewers, directly discharged into streams – while it’s technically permitted – it really doesn’t strike me as working in the spirit of what best practices are.”
Roberta Kaufman, resident and representative of the grassroots environmental group Citizens for Informed Land Use (CILU), challenged the project’s potential impact on the Swimming River Reservoir, concerned with the history of the existing wastewater treatment facility. She noted that between 2000 and 2023, the on-site lagoon failed state Department of Environmental Protection inspections 19 times. She questioned the feasibility of upgrading a 50-year-old treatment system to meet the wastewater demands of the proposed residential development.
Kaufman specifically asked whether the existing infrastructure could effectively manage the transition from an office-based use to a complex residential and assisted-living environment.
Zelina noted the site’s challenging soil conditions but explained that the development would meet current regulations by reducing overall impervious coverage.
Board member Ron Emma also raised concerns about seemingly contradictory statements in the township’s wastewater treatment review letter. The letter suggested both carrying sewage flows through new pipes to the existing pump station and potentially constructing a new wastewater treatment plant for future phases.
Kemp, the developer’s attorney, directly addressed these concerns, emphasizing that the developer’s intention is straightforward. “We are only proposing to modernize and upgrade the existing plant,” he said, adding that the developer is not proposing removing the whole plant and rebuilding a brand new one.
Kemp clarified that the project’s goal is to maintain the existing capacity, in line with the redevelopment agreement, and to upgrade the facility to meet current environmental regulations. “The intention is to not increase the existing capacity… (but) to modernize it and upgrade it so it’s not state-of-the-art but certainly complies with all the DEP regulations,” he explained.
The developer has assured it will adapt the facility as regulatory standards evolve, ensuring ongoing compliance through the state’s DEP permitting process. “That permitting process will dictate the final design and will comply with the regulations they change,” Kemp said, emphasizing that there is no intention to replace the existing wastewater treatment infrastructure.
Residents have had ongoing questions about traffic impacts, wildlife displacement and potential strain on the area’s infrastructure. The developer’s team, including Zelina and Kemp, said they will address those concerns through detailed traffic studies, environmental assessments and regular communication with the township and community.
The board took no action on the project and decided to carry the entire application to the next special meeting, scheduled for Nov. 10, for further examination. The project will remain under active consideration. All supplemental materials are available on the township’s website for public review.
The article originally appeared in the October 23 – 29, 2025 print edition of The Two River Times.
