By Sunayana Prabhu
HOLMDEL – Nearly 87 acres of the former headquarters of the global cloud communications company Vonage have been proposed for potential redevelopment. The governing body authorized the planning board to undertake a preliminary investigation to study the massive site as a potential area in need of redevelopment for non-condemnation purposes.
According to the resolution discussed at the Nov. 22 township committee meeting, the governing body authorized a redevelopment study for the property after it received a letter dated Oct. 24, 2023, from 23 Main Street Propco, LLC, the owner of the property, located at 23 Main St. along Newman Springs Road and Holmdel Road. Vonage relocated in 2022 to the metroburb complex in the historic former Bell Works building just a few miles north within the township.
Following Vonage’s move, the current owner of the property has requested the township consider the property for redevelopment, but its commercial or residential use is yet to be determined.
“Right now, it’s just negotiations and there’s nothing finalized,” Mayor DJ Luccarelli said. “It’s just talks about what potentially could work there.”
However, resident Jay Yannello said at the meeting he was concerned that a plan for “hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of potential housing” units at the site was being “bounced around,” referencing plans that were submitted to the township and released under the Open Public Records Act (OPRA).
“I am a little surprised and a lot of people in the community were surprised to see a purchase deal for the land that was zoned commercial,” Yannello said. “Why would someone buy land like that unless they were fairly convinced that we (the township) would approve such a high-density plan like they’ve submitted?” he asked.
Township attorney Mike Collins said there have been “no offers or guarantees of any particular outcome that supported any individual completing a private purchase.” He said the plans referencing high-density housing released through OPRA were at the sole discretion of the developer and the township did not provide them. The governing body is “committed to providing as much transparency as possible” throughout this redevelopment process, Collins said.
According to Collins, the Vonage redevelopment study will follow a similar process to that of the recently acquired Crawford Hill property. When the township committee negotiates directly with the property owner or developer, “those negotiations have to take place behind closed doors for them to function properly,” he said, referring to the months of closed-door discussions before the township successfully negotiated to secure the Holmdel Horn Antenna site.
The committee also received some backlash for assigning township planner Jennifer Beahm to assist with the redevelopment investigation study before it appeared before the planning board. “You’re appointing Jen Beahm. She’s not the planning board planner, that would be Kate Keller,” said Ron Emma, a planning board member, during public comments.
Collins said the choice to appoint Beahm to assist with the redevelopment investigation study was at the “township’s discretion.”
However, Holmdel resident Ralph Blumenthal noted there is extensive case law that dictates the township ask the planning board to do a study to investigate if the property needs redevelopment. “It’s the responsibility of the planning board independently to select their professionals independent of the township committee,” said Blumenthal.
The township committee decided to resolve the conflict by removing Beahm’s name as the designated professional planner and authorized the planning board to move ahead with the blight study.
According to New Jersey property tax records, the property was sold Oct. 10, 2023, by Mack-Cali Corp to 23 Main Street Propco LLC for $17.5 million. The latest records indicate the property incurs $596,341.06 annually in taxes. The corporate building, which is roughly 350,000 square feet, was built in 1977. While Vonage, the biggest tenant of the building, moved its corporate offices into Bell Works, some of the offices in the building are still subleased to VNA Health Group. The site is currently zoned OL2 (Office/Laboratory).
The article originally appeared in the November 30 – December 6, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
