McGuire will appraise Broadway properties

BY CHRISTINE VARNO
Staff Writer

LONG BRANCH — The City Council amended its agreement with the appraisal firm for the downtown Broadway Corridor redevelopment zone last week, despite the concerns of local residents.

“McGuire Associates in some methods were unprofessional,” Harold Bobrow, Ocean Boulevard, said at the meeting. “At least that is what we have been told [by residents whose homes have been appraised by the firm]. I think this is a real slap in the face to go to that company again after these residents told you what happened during their appraisals.”

In August, McGuire Associates, Real Estate Appraisers and Consultants, Jersey City, was awarded a contract in an amount not to exceed $15,000 to appraise the Broadway Corridor, a two-block zone that extends from Second Avenue to Memorial Avenue and from Union Avenue to the north and Belmont Avenue to the south. Last week, the council adopted resolution 365-05, increasing the contract by $7,000, for a total not to exceed $22,000, to appraise three additional properties in the Broadway corridor.

The appraisal will be used to determine the value of the properties, according to Todd Katz, a principal with developers of the zone, Broadway Arts Center (BAC) LLC, Long Branch. Katz said he is currently negotiating with business owners.

Prior to the Broadway appraisal, McGuire was retained to conduct appraisals in the Beachfront North Phase II redevelopment zone, a three-street neighborhood consisting of 38 properties.

Residents from that zone whose properties were appraised by the firm presented council with a letter in February stating that the appraisal inspections were unprofessional and violated rules of ethics and the code of conduct,

“I personally think that [Hugh McGuire] is a criminal for the assessments he has put on our homes,” said Denise Hoagland, whose oceanfront home on Ocean Terrace was appraised at $400,000 by the firm.

“I think it is an absolute disgrace.”

None of the council members present made a comment.

Another resident said an appraisal firm should have been retained through public bidding.

“You know how I feel about pay-to-play,” said Bill McLaughlin, Ocean Avenue.

“[McGuire] gets the job because he bought his way into the contract. Shame on all of you.”

Again, there was no reply from the council.

BAC has been awarded the right to act as developer of the downtown Broadway Corridor. Plans call for an arts district anchored by two performing arts theaters, 190,000 square feet of retail and art space, 500 residential units, restaurants and 1,500 parking spaces.

A number of business owners in the zone have joined forces to fight to keep their properties, according to Kevin Brown, who owns 162 Broadway, which houses Garcia’s Music on the first floor and his residence on the second floor.

Brown said he is not against redevelopment, but he and several other business owners want to remain in the area and be a part of the process.

Brown and business owners such as Bill Leshowitz, who for more than 20 years has owned 153 and 155 Broadway, the site of LaSierra Restaurant, Heads Up Barber Shop and two rental apartments, retained attorney William J. Ward of Carlin & Ward, Florham Park, to study the redevelopment plans for the zone.

Ward said recently that after he studies the plan, the business owners may contest the taking of their properties for redevelopment by eminent domain.

Katz along with the Siperstein family, who own Siperstein’s on Broadway, and the Pereira family, which owns Pax Construction Co. on Broadway, are principals in the project.