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ASBURY PARK, NJ-The residential portions of this city'soceanfront redevelopment are well under way and now theboardwalk-focused retail and entertainment component has taken abig step forward. Officials of the Washington, DC-based MadisonMarquette announced today at the ICSC Convention in Las Vegas thatthey had signed an agreement with Asbury Partners, master developerof Oceanfront Asbury, as the larger project's called, to fill inthat gap. For previous stories, click here .

"We are eager to help restore Asbury Park to its prominenceamong East Coast beach communities," said Gary Mottola, managingdirector and head of investments for Madison Marquette, in makingthe announcement. "After a two-year process, we selected MadisonMarquette because they create amazing retail destinations and canmanage complex redevelopments," added Hugh Lamle, president of MDSass, the lead investor in Asbury Partners.