Pitch Made To Scale Back Luxury Condos

It will be at least until October before the owners of The Monmouth, a high-end condominium complex in the southwestern part of town, know if their pitch to scale back its plans for more luxury homes will be approved by the Board of Adjustment.

The Monmouth, bounded by routes 34, 35, 70 and Old Bridge Road, continued its case before the zoning board on Wednesday. Time ran out on the hearing, which lasted about an hour. The next was scheduled for the October 5 meeting.

The owners of the unfinished, age-restricted community want to change its already-approved plans to build more 4,000 square foot condominium buildings on the property.

Citing the nationwide economic downturn, Amboy Bank and West Long Branch developer PRC Group want to instead build 2,000-square-foot condos in the same buildings already approved by the board. The effect would create twice as many units in the same number of buildings.

But, attorney Robert McGowan said, the company might have a better chance selling those units than they would the upscale units they already have -- the sales of which have slowed to a crawl since the recession hit two years ago, he said.

“Unless The Monmouth is able to revitalize the marketability of the community, the existing owners and the township are faced with a half-finished project and suffering from continued depreciation of unit values,’’ McGowan said.

The Monmouth has approval for 96 total units in 16 buildings. There are eight buildings constructed, with a total of 48 units. Of those 48, there are only 27 units occupied. The owners are asking the zoning board to approve plans to increase to 114 the number of units in the same 16 buildings. Of the eight yet to be constructed, The Monmouth would like to convert three of them to 2,000-square-foot units, McGowan said.

“We believe that if we are able to offer a mix of 2,000-sqauare-foot units, in addition to the 4,000 square foot units, we will be able to revitalize this development and thereby be able to bring it to full build-out,’’ McGowan said.

Amboy bank -- which after three years of litigation, in 2010 took over ownership of the development after the original owner suddenly died in 2007 -- approached the existing homeowner’s association, seeking approval for their proposal, McGowan said.

The vote, which took place on May 17, was 20-0 with seven non-votes, he said.

Board chair Wilma Morrissey asked McGowan to explain how The Monmouth planned to accommodate twice the number of vehicles in the buildings that will have twice the units.

An engineer for Amboy Bank explained some shuffling of on-street parking spots and spots adjacent to the buildings would provide adequate accommodations. McGowan also said this parking plan was approved by the homeowner’s association at the May 17 vote.

Gregory Lentin, Amboy Bank sales executive, gave an impassioned testimony on the need for the development to be allowed to go ahead with its scaled back plans.

“It’s very hard to get that community going,’’ Lentin said. “People look at this and say ‘Nothing has happened here in years.’ People don’t like the unknown. My opinion is, if we don’t go this route, it’s going to have a hard time surviving.’’

Board members had some questions on the wisdom behind building more units on a development that is already undersold.

Lentin said while there is no guarantee that the new units will be able to sell in the current economy, but it is the development’s best shot.

“If we can expand the product that’s out there, we can at least have a shot at a wider market that can help us be successful,’’ Lentin said.