Demolition for Luxury Waterfront Project Set to Begin in Sea Bright

SEA BRIGHT – Six buildings in downtown Sea Bright near the Shrewsbury River waterfront will soon be razed to make way for a luxury development.

In July, the borough notified residents that demolition on properties located on Church Street, South Street and River Street is beginning, marking a new chapter for Sea Bright’s western shoreline. The aging properties will be replaced by a residential development to be known as Haven At Sea Bright.

“We’re probably about two weeks away” from demolition, said Steven Lidster, director of development at Denholtz Properties, a Red Bank-based commercial real estate investment and development company, in an Aug. 2 interview. “We’re in for demolition permits, we just need to do a little bit more paperwork,” he said.

According to Lidster, the buildings to be demolished include a two-family home, some garages and a structure at the end of Church Street that formerly housed an art studio.

“They’re not particularly large or complicated buildings, but if we get started in about two weeks, we’re going to work north to south, and we’ll probably finish the demo up in 30 to 60 days,” Lidster said.

Plans for the development include the construction of a 15-unit condominium building, 25 town homes and four single-family homes. Toll Brothers, a nationwide luxury home builder, will be responsible for the construction of the townhomes and single-family homes.

“On the condo building, I can speak to, we hope to start that next spring and that’s about a 15-month build,” Lidster said.

The Haven was originally proposed to the borough in 2018 by Asbury-Park-based Brooks Real Estate Development.

After a period of inactivity, in 2022, borough officials signed off on a proposal to transfer oversight of the project to Denholtz Properties and move forward with the site plan as originally approved.

Under that plan, the project has a density of 14.81 units per acre. In a 2022 interview, Denholtz CEO Steven Denholtz said all the 44 residential units will be for sale, instead of rentals, and are designed with storm surges in mind; entrances to each unit will be about five feet taller than is required in Sea Bright’s building regulations.

The entire development will span 2.97 acres from Front Street to River Street. The single-family homes will each be 3,000 square feet and located between Beach Street and New Street, while seven townhomes will sit between New Street and Church Street. The condominium building will be constructed between Church Street and South Street with 18 additional townhomes to be built between South Street and River Street.

The project falls within the borough’s Shrewsbury River Properties redevelopment area, which was designated in 2019 after the planning board’s 2016 preliminary Redevelopment Area study.

In addition to luxury housing, Lidster said, “there’s a very large open space element that we have been working with the borough on for quite some time.”

“We’ve got about 800 or so feet of frontage on the Shrewsbury River,” he said, which will feature a public walkway along the entire length. A public park, spanning approximately an acre of waterfront, will also be constructed and transferred to borough ownership following completion. Original site plans indicate the public green space will be located next to the public kayak launch on Front Street and River Street. A dog park, small fishing pier and fish cleaning station are also earmarked for this area.

In building the waterfront walkway, Lidster said Denholtz will replace the aging bulkhead with a new steel bulkhead and raise it to “match the elevation that the Borough of Sea Bright is raising their elevations to.” The developer is also contributing to the new pump station which is being constructed on River Street.

Helping the borough fulfill its “fair share” of affordable housing units, eight of the 44 dwellings will be earmarked for affordable housing, which is in line with future development guidelines in Sea Bright’s 2017 master plan.

As demolition begins, Denholtz Properties will be responsible for the site, curb and roadway preparations across the entire development, followed by construction of the condominium building, while Toll Brothers breaks ground on its town- and single-family homes.