Plan for Entertainment Venue at Former Fort Monmouth Dance Hall Advances

Fort Monmouth Dance Hall, Oceanport, NJ

OCEANPORT, NJ—The Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority Board has authorized its staff to enter into a Purchase and Sale & Redevelopment Agreement with AP Development Partners, an Asbury Park firm that also has an interest in The Marina at Oceanport, the military base’s former marina, for the redevelopment of the approximately 4.2-acre Dance Hall parcel in Oceanport, NJ. The property contains the 16,000-square-foot former recreation building, better known as the Dance Hall, Van Kirk Park and associated parking areas.

The Dance Hall was targeted for demolition under the Fort Monmouth Reuse and Redevelopment Plan, but a 2016 amendment to the plan saved the site. It permits an alternative development scenario for the building, including commercial/retail space, craft production and outdoor dining.

FMERA’s executive director declined to discuss the Dance Hall plans.

“It is FMERA policy not to comment on potential projects while they are still in negotiation, beyond what is discussed in the public Board meetings,” says Bruce Steadman in response to a query from GlobeSt.com.  “We will look forward to sharing pertinent information when that information may be made public.”

AP Development could not be reached for comment.

AP Development is proposing redeveloping the property for commercial and retail uses, including entertainment and restaurants. Specifically, AP Development has indicated that potential users of the facility include a restaurant/café, microbrewery and coffee roaster. Under the purchase agreement, adjacent Van Kirk Park will be retained as open space, and entertainment events will be hosted in the park throughout the year.

Many facilities being transferred to civilian uses at the base have rich military history that has faded into dim memory.

The park is named for First Lieutenant John Stewart Van Kirk, who died in combat on November 30, 1942 in Djedeida, Tunisia, according to the booklet, Landmarks, Memorials, Buildings and Street Names of Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, produced by historians for the Army’s CECOM unit, which formerly had its command headquarters at the base. Van Kirk had previously attended Officer Candidate School at Fort Monmouth. A memorial granite bench was erected at Van Kirk Park without ceremony in the early 1950s at the wishes of his father, the donor, the booklet says. The park also features a Purple Heart Memorial.

In July, the FMERA board approved conveying the Fort’s Avenue of Memories, also known as County Road 537 Extension, to Monmouth County. This conveyance remains subject to financing through the County and FMERA’s closing with the Army. The road is the main east-west thoroughfare through the main military base property, connecting New Jersey Route 35 on the Fort’s west gate in Eatontown, NJ, with the fort’s east boundary on Oceanport Avenue in Oceanport, NJ.

One of the plaques on the Avenue of Memories, Fort Monmouth, Oceanport, NJ. (Steve Lubetkin photo/StateBroadcastNews.com. Used by permission.)

Its name comes from the boulevard’s tree-lined sidewalks, and the memorial plaques to fallen service members decorating the base of each tree. The Army maintains an Excel spreadsheet listing all of the markers at http://www.cecom.army.mil/historian/pubupdates/AvMemories.xls. Many of the markers are being turned over to survivors of the soldiers honored, and others are expected to be preserved elsewhere.

Its opening to routine civilian traffic would dramatically alter traffic flows between Eatontown, Little Silver, Oceanport, and Long Branch. FMERA says that subject to agreements with the county, the route could be open by this fall.

As previously reported by GlobeSt.com in 2014, Cushman & Wakefield has been marketing a number of the buildings on the two-square-mile military parcel that straddles Tinton Falls, Eatontown, and Oceanport.