The concept calls for restaurants, nightclubs, family entertainment and retail shops along both the city's 60-foot-wide boardwalk and the adjacent Ocean Ave. It will encompass a combination of restoring and unifying, in a design sense, eight existing boardwalk pavilions as well as construction of a series of new retail buildings. The retail component will be anchored by two historic buildings--the Convention Hall/Paramount Theater building to the north, and the Casino Building to the south.

"SOSH has created an exciting theme," says Larry Fishman, COO of the Lakewood, NJ-based Asbury Partners, the city-appointed master developer of Oceanfront Asbury, as the overall project is called. "It is generating a great deal of interest. At the same time, we are being very selective regarding the type of businesses that will be chosen to make up the retail-entertainment component of this project."

Asbury Partners is currently marketing the retail development area to a combination of seasonal and year-round retailers, restaurateurs and entertainment companies, according to Fishman. While the Jersey Shore is traditionally a seasonal venue focusing on the warm-weather months, "we envision this as a year-round retail destination with upscale shops in an historic setting," Fishman says. "Our ultimate goal is to assemble a mix of tenants that will complement each other and enhance the residential development planned within the project."

That residential component, while minus one of its key players in the wake of K. Hovnanian Enterprises' pull-out, is still targeting a total of 3,000 units. Some 2,500 would be new housing and the rest replacement units. Kushner Cos. of Florham Park, NJ and Paramount Homes of Jackson, NJ are the two homebuilders still onboard.