By Sunayana Prabhu
HOLMDEL – A mortgage holder has filed a foreclosure suit in Superior Court against the proposed Azura at Holmdel on the former Vonage property. CHA Partners owns and is redeveloping the property; the township issued the company a default notice at the Oct. 13 committee meeting.
While the township now awaits future legal recourse with CHA, a separate property dispute has complicated the township’s affordable housing plans. A few weeks ago, officials authorized the acquisition of property off Route 35 behind Kohl’s Plaza to meet the state-mandated fourth-round affordable housing obligations. The property was part of the third-round negotiations. The property owners, Paradigm Deviation LLC and Paradigm Hedge LLC, have negotiated with the township for over a decade but filed a lawsuit in superior court Oct. 20, alleging the township flouted good-faith negotiation rules.
Azura at Holmdel
Demolition of the 360,000-square-foot building, the former Vonage headquarters at 23 Main St. is clearly visible along Newman Springs Road. Mounds of debris have settled outside the building, irking several residents.
The future of the nearly 88-acre property, which was supposed to meet the township’s fourth-round affordable housing obligations with 48 affordable units out of 299, is now uncertain.
“The township is aware that a foreclosure has been filed against the property by a mortgage holder in Superior Court,” township attorney Michael Collins revealed at the Oct. 13 meeting.
At that evening’s executive session, the committee directed the township’s special counsel, Andrew Bayer, to issue a notice of default, Collins said. He noted that the township could not comment further because the matter involved “both active and potential litigation.”
A few residents said they had raised a red flag last year, citing CHA’s “track record of loan defaults and broken promises,” according to a statement posted by a community group, Better Holmdel.
“Some of us were concerned about their (CHA’s) financial abilities,” said resident Jay Yannello, who was on the ad hoc committee on Vonage redevelopment.
CHA acquired the property in 2023 from Mack-Cali, now known as Veris Residential, for $17.5 million. Mack-Cali had purchased it for $23.75 million in 2005. After Vonage ended its lease in 2022 and moved to Bell Works, the property value declined, and the township deemed the site underutilized.
In November 2024, the township committee adopted CHA’s proposed redevelopment plan.
The property’s wastewater treatment facility was a major hurdle and expense in advancing the plan. Residents raised drinking water concerns due to the old wastewater treatment plant on site. In January 2026, the township planning board amended the Vonage redevelopment agreement to replace the antiquated wastewater plant with a force main that would pump the wastewater off-site to the Bayshore Regional Sewerage Authority via regional sewer lines connected to the Bell Works sewerage system. Officials estimated the amended plan would cost the township $6.5 million, which they said would not impact property taxes. The amount would be raised through a combination of sources, including $1 million from CHA, $1.3 million from the township’s affordable housing fund and the remaining $4.2 million funded by a special assessment on units built on the property, with the township issuing a bond that would have been repaid over 30 years by future residents of the property through annual fees.
All of those plans are now stranded.
In the past month, Yannello complained the developer has been “gutting this building and theoretically recycling it, and we may be left with a studded, gutted building that may have had better use. It’s a little scary,” he said.
“Every agreement we’ve signed, and every step we’ve taken since, is with the protection of the town in mind,” Mayor Rocco Impreveduto said.
Route 35 Property
In a separate dispute, Paradigm Deviation LLC and Paradigm Hedge LLC have sued Holmdel over the township’s plans for their nearly 11-acre property at 2147 Route 35, behind the Kohl’s Plaza. The companies filed a complaint in Monmouth County Superior Court Oct. 20.
Holmdel adopted an ordinance at the Sept. 8 township committee meeting authorizing the township to acquire the property through a negotiated purchase or eminent domain. The township’s affordable housing plan includes up to 80 units on the site, all designated as affordable. The ordinance states that the township had to take the step “to address the Township’s affordable housing deficit arising from the Rt. 35 Property owner’s failure to implement the development on the Property authorized by the Township’s Third Round court approved affordable housing plan.”
George Makhoul, a representative of Paradigm LLC, has disputed the township’s suggestion. “The ordinance requires the township to issue a 14-day letter to commence negotiation with the property owner. If those negotiations fail, then they can go with eminent domain, but Paradigm has received no letter so far.”
He added that the development agreement with the township signed in 2020 for its third-round obligations “is for 10 years from the day the judge approved it. The judge approved it on Dec. 22, 2020, which gives us until Dec. 20, 2030, to build,” Makhoul said.
“Meanwhile, they (township) delayed everything. They even did not accept our submission for the preliminary and final site plan; they refused to take it. How can you build something without their approval?”
The ordinance also cites a July 22 court order approving Holmdel’s fourth-round housing plan and requiring the township to obtain site control of the property by Sept. 30, 2026.
Paradigm’s complaint describes a different development history.
According to the filed exhibits, the companies pursued a mixed-use project with senior and assisted-living apartments and commercial space facing Route 35. According to the complaint, a 2017 plan called for 184 residential units, including 27 affordable units, and a 30,000-square-foot commercial building. A 2020 development settlement agreement provided for 170 residential units, including 31 affordable units, and a 40,000-square-foot commercial building.
The companies allege Holmdel’s actions violated a court-approved, third-round judgment and the 2020 settlement agreement. According to Paradigm, the township sought additional affordable units, later told the owners to seek a new planning board review, and took steps toward acquiring the property. The complaint alleges the township’s conduct amounted to a decade-long, bad-faith campaign to depreciate the property’s development value.
Paradigm seeks, among other relief, a declaration that the third-round judgment remains in force, an order barring Holmdel from acting contrary to it, and damages. The complaint also alleges breach of contract, breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing, and violations of the companies’ civil rights.
According to the complaint, Paradigm signed a purchase agreement in February 2014 and closed on the property in March 2016. Since the property has wetlands, the property owners had to get environmental site approvals from the state, that delayed the closing. Paradigm said they spent two years before closing and nearly half a million dollars including hiring land surveyors, engineering firms, among others. They said they also engaged with design and architectural services for about $2.45 million on revised development designs prepared in February 2025, but Holmdel did not allow them to file them for approval.
According to the township’s ordinance, the Route 35 project is now part of its approved fourth-round affordable housing plan. The lawsuit’s claims have not been adjudicated. The township has 20 days to respond to the lawsuit, according to legal procedures.
This article originally appeared in the October 29-November 4, 2026 print edition of The Two River Times.
