Boardwalk Preservation Fund
In October 2023 the City of Asbury Park applied to the State's Boardwalk Preservation Fund for $47 million. In February 2024 the State awarded $20 million. Under a March 2025 sub-grant agreement, $13 million of that award goes to Madison Asbury Retail for work at Convention Hall and the City keeps $7 million for boardwalk repairs and new restrooms.
What the record shows
- Program
- Boardwalk Preservation Fund, administered by the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs
- Applicant
- City of Asbury Park
- Application
- Final application dated October 31, 2023; $47 million requested
- Award
- $20,000,000, State award letter dated February 23, 2024
- Allocation
- $13 million sub-granted to Madison Asbury Retail for Convention Hall work; $7 million retained by the City for boardwalk repairs and new restrooms
- Sub-grant agreement
- City of Asbury Park and Madison Asbury Retail, March 26, 2025
The City's own records response states that the application incorporated extracts from the developer's separate federal historic tax credit application. The email production released under OPRA request PR-178-2024 covers the correspondence between City staff and the developer's team from August 2023 to March 2024 while the application was assembled.
The file
Each document opens to its own page with the original file and searchable text.
Connection to the CAFE application
The $13 million sub-grant was filed with NJEDA as evidence of a committed funding source for Madison Asbury Retail's June 2025 CAFE application, and NJEDA counted it toward the project's 20 percent equity requirement when the Board approved a $75 million award in August 2026. The work confirmed to have started at Convention Hall is the sub-grant work.