POINT PLEASANT BEACH — The borough board of adjustment approved a use variance for two mixed-use buildings on April 3, clearing the way for a residential/commercial development of the property at 413 Railroad Square.
The property in question is located slightly north of Arnold Avenue along the Route 35 North corridor, across from the railroad station.
The site is within the borough’s general commercial (GC) zone, which allows for apartments to be built on the second floor and higher, as long as that second floor is above a permitted use on the first floor, according to the borough’s code. According to John J. Jackson III of JJJ Law Firm, attorney for applicant Lombardi Residential LLC, a use variance was sought because a small portion of residential space would be located on the first floor.
“One of the apartments has a downstairs area that brings the living space into the first floor, so it’s really kind of a technicality that we’re in for the D variance,” Jackson said. A “D” variance, or use variance, is a type of variance which requires the applicant to show “special reasons” why the property is suited for a particular nonconforming use, as well as showing that the variance can be approved without substantially negatively affecting the public.
“In fact, that is going to be like a lounge area for the apartment users, but technically, that requires a D variance,” said Jackson. “We’re hopeful that the board sees that this lends itself well and will extend the downtown and the pedestrian activity north of Arnold Avenue.”
The property at 413 Railroad Square is currently occupied by The Lift Gym, which Matthew Lombardi of Lombardi Residential LLC, the variance applicant, said would be demolished as part of the new development.
“(The plan) is for about 5,000 square feet of retail and first-floor commercial, and then we have 22 residential units which will be rental units. I think we have 59 parking spaces, including garages in the rear of the property,” he said. He also said that several of the units, “four or five,” would likely be affordable units, with the rest market-rate.
“It encompasses where The Lift currently is,” said Lombardi. “When we build this, The Lift Gym will come down as part of the construction process.”
Permitted first-floor uses in the GC zone under borough code include retail, restaurants, banks, performance spaces, nursing homes, churches and more. Lombardi told The Ocean Star that the first-floor commercial use for the development was still uncertain.
“We don’t want to compete so hard with any particular people around us, so we thought maybe an ice cream parlor — we own an ice cream parlor right now in Spring Lake called Sundae Times, we’re thinking maybe we can do that over there; maybe The Lift Gym will come back in some capacity into the space, but we haven’t marketed anything,” said Lombardi. “This is all a new approval as of a week ago, so we still have a lot more paperwork and finalizing the plans to complete.”
“We’re going to try to get tenants, for sure, that would benefit the downtown,” he said. “We’re not going to have a storage building or something; it’s going to be things that would interact very well with the existing downtown.”
Lombardi told The Ocean Star that construction could begin as soon as spring 2026, after the proper permits are obtained. He further said that, once begun, construction should take approximately 15 months to complete.
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