ASBURY PARK, NJ—A multibillion-dollar redevelopment plan will transform a 1.25-mile stretch of Asbury Park waterfront with carefully curated residential, hotel and infrastructure projects. iStar, the real-estate investment company whose roots in Asbury Park stretch back a decade, is leading the revitalization, which involves more than 20 individual projects.
Ten years in the making, the plan represents one of the most significant redevelopments ever undertaken on the Eastern Seaboard, and one of the nation’s most ambitious urban-revival initiatives, according to iStar.
“We believe in Asbury Park’s potential as a one-of-a-kind place to live, work, visit and invest,” said Jay Sugarman, iStar’s founder and CEO. “We’re excited to harness its character, beauty and heritage to build a future full of promise. And we’re eager to share it with the world.”
Sugarman has assembled a team to move the redevelopment forward. Anda Andrei, formerly firector of design with the Ian Schrager Company, is the creative lead for the entire redevelopment project. Andrei is selecting designers and architects who understand how to shape Asbury Park’s future while celebrating its one-of-a-kind character, said Sugarman.
David Bowd, creator of the SALT hotels brand and a former executive at Andre Balazs Properties will manage, program and oversee development of an iStar-backed hotel currently under construction.
Other notable partners include architects Gary Handel (The Dream, Four Seasons Miami), Paul Taylor (Ace, Nomad) and Chad Oppenheim (Ten Museum Park Miami); landscape designer Madison Cox (Majorelle Gardens in Marrakech, Spring Garden at the French National Museum at the Château de Blérancourt); and landscape architects Melillo + Bauer Associates.
“Asbury Park has a soul that makes it unique in America,” said Andrei, whose past projects include the Delano Miami, Royalton New York and The London EDITION. “There’s a love for that behind this project. We’re mining the incredible history and one-of-a-kind character to amplify what’s already here.”
“Through the properties we’re developing, we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to capture Asbury Park’s incredible sense of place,” Bowd added.