January 17, 2013
Bidding Opens for
First Residential Offering at Fort Monmouth
The “next chapter”
for Fort Monmouth, the recently
decommissioned central New Jersey
Army installation, is being written
as 2013 commences, with the offering
of a 64-acre residential
redevelopment parcel in Eatontown
open for proposals.
Commercial real
estate services firm Cushman &
Wakefield, Inc., as exclusive agent
for the Fort Monmouth Economic
Revitalization Authority (FMERA), is
spearheading marketing for the
residential site, known as Howard
Commons. The property sits along
Pine Brook Road in Tinton Falls,
just one-half mile from Exit 105 of
the Garden State Parkway and 6 miles
from the New Jersey shoreline. The
proposed development includes 275
residential units and approximately
15,000 square feet of neighborhood
retail.
“Contract sales
through the end of October in
Monmouth and Ocean counties rose by
24 percent over the same period in
2011, and the occupancy rate for
multifamily rental in eastern
Monmouth County averages 97 percent,
making it a strong target market for
investors,” noted Cushman &
Wakefield’s Gualberto “Gil” Medina,
who is heading the Fort Monmouth
assignment with team members Les
Smith, Christopher Kinum, Kevin
Carton, David Bernhaut, and Grace
Braverman. “Already we have seen
significant interest from both
regional and national players, as
the January 28 Request for Offers to
Purchase deadline approaches.”
In a region with
high barriers to entry, the Howard
Commons site already is zoned for
medium-density housing, which
provides flexibility for the
development of garden apartments,
townhomes and/or stacked flats. The
Borough of Eatontown has expressed a
preference for new townhomes on the
site. “Moving this property into the
marketplace demonstrates FMERA’s
commitment to providing new housing
opportunities for the region, which
has been adversely affected by
Hurricane Sandy,” FMERA Executive
Director Bruce Steadman said.
Howard Commons is
part of the two-phase, multi-parcel
offering of Fort Monmouth. The
entire, 1,127 acre-complex – which
spans Eatontown, Tinton Falls and
Oceanport – is being marketed for
sale by FMERA with the assistance of
Cushman & Wakefield. “We are
encouraged by the strong interest we
are seeing in the former fort’s many
development opportunities –
including multifamily, retail,
commercial and hospitality – which
will come online in 2013 and 2014,”
Steadman noted.
Already, last
spring CommVault Systems, a data and
information management software
company, announced its plan to build
a new, 650,000-square-foot
headquarters (with the capacity for
up to 3,000 employees) on a 55-acre
Fort Monmouth parcel. Two additional
Tinton Falls sites will be offered
during the first quarter of 2013.
This includes 39 acres proposed for
the development of 239 multi-family
units and 80,000 square feet of
retail/commercial, and 12 acres
proposed for 49 multi-family units.
Both properties are located adjacent
to the Garden State Parkway.
“At the time of
its decommissioning in 2011, Fort
Monmouth employed 5,000 service
people and civilians, and in its
heyday more than 20,000 people
either worked or lived there,”
Steadman said.
“Its closing was a
significant blow to the regional
economy,” added Medina. “Now, FMERA
has assembled one of the nation’s
largest and most exciting
redevelopment projects there.
Cushman & Wakefield is thrilled to
be part of the effort to bring jobs
and residents back to the place
where a community once thrived – and
will again.”
FMERA’s
predecessor, the Fort Monmouth
Economic Revitalization Planning
Authority, in association with the
local municipalities, prepared a
comprehensive Reuse Plan for the
Fort, outlining the proposed use for
each section of the complex. Several
parcels include existing buildings
that may be adaptable for re-use.
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