Asbury Park On The Record: The Basics.
New to the Asbury Park waterfront? Start anywhere. Each section stands on its own and explains the basics from the beginning.
Who is responsible
Two sides run the waterfront: the private companies doing the development, and the government bodies that approve and oversee it.
On the private side, the companies involved have changed hands more than once, and the sequence matters for understanding who is responsible today. Asbury Partners became master developer in 2002, independently owned at the time, led by Larry Fishman. In December 2004, the city conveyed the Casino property to Asbury Partners by deed. In 2006, a real estate finance company called iStar became Asbury Partners' lender, providing a loan secured by the waterfront property, but did not yet own or control the company itself.
In 2007, Asbury Partners and a national real estate firm, Madison Marquette, formed a joint venture called Madison Asbury Retail. That June, Asbury Partners conveyed the Casino property to Madison Asbury Retail by deed. Convention Hall, the Paramount Theatre, and the boardwalk pavilions followed the same basic pattern, deeded first from the city to Asbury Partners and then again to companies within the Madison Asbury Retail family that hold them today. During the 2008 financial crisis, Asbury Partners' original ownership group defaulted on its loan from iStar. As the lender, iStar took over ownership of Asbury Partners in 2009, becoming its managing member and installing its own executives. In 2010, the fourth agreement described in the previous section formally made Madison Asbury Retail responsible for the historic buildings, at a point when iStar already controlled Asbury Partners.
In 2023, iStar merged with a separate public company, Safehold, and spun off the Asbury Park waterfront assets into a new standalone public company called Star Holdings, whose shares trade on the stock market.
On the government side, several bodies share authority. The City Council approves the redevelopment agreements and any changes to the master plan. The Planning Board reviews and approves the detailed plans for individual buildings. The City Manager's office and the City Attorney handle day-to-day administration and enforcement. At the state level, one agency oversees the coastal permit and another, the state historic preservation office, helps enforce the 2004 easement.