A Step Towards the Future...
Posted by Webmaster on 11/24/07

Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 11/20/07

BY BILL BOWMAN
COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU
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NEPTUNE — Gail Oliver peeked out from under her umbrella with a look somewhere between expectation and trepidation Monday as she watched a backhoe rip through the first of two empty West Lake Avenue homes.

"This does represent hope," Oliver said as she watched the demolition.

As the founder of the Midtown Urban Renaissance Corporation, the group spearheading the revitalization of the Midtown section, Oliver has been waiting for this day for years.

But she also knows that part of that progress means that one day her West Lake Avenue home — the house in which she grew up — will also fall victim to the wrecker's ball.

The buildings taken down Monday — two shotgun homes next to each other that neighbors dated as either 60 or 70 years old — were razed to make way for a playground that is being relocated from across the street. An office building is planned for the area now used by the playground.

The demolition was the first physical step in more than a year in the West Lake Avenue redevelopment project, which will result in the part of the street between Route 35 and the Asbury Park boundary converted into more than 120,000 square feet or residential, retail and office space.

MURC and the township's Economic Development Council are working together with Trenton-based CityWorks, the project's redeveloper.

Monday's demolition "represents another step toward the future of the new West Lake Avenue," Oliver said. "It also resurrects some very bad memories dating back to the 1970s, which caused all this, not just here, but in other urban towns as well."

Deputy Mayor Randy Bishop was also on hand to witness the demolition.

Bishop said that "after many delays, it's good to see something taking place for the rehabilitation of West Lake Avenue."

"Everybody's anticipating this," Bishop said. "It will be nice to have something to show that it is moving forward."

Bishop said the two homes had been rental units for years. He said the township bought the homes and the residents were relocated.

Area businesses also are looking forward to the revitalization, said Bob Jameson, owner of Jameson's Restaurant on Route 35. "It's definitely positive," he said, adding that it symbolizes "a new beginning for West Lake Avenue."