The former Foodtown site off Route 70 in Brick. (Photo: Daniel Nee)
A revised Foodtown redevelopment plan up for consideration by the township council this week would settle a lawsuit and finally allow construction to begin on the site.
The agreement would divide the property into two lots. M&M at Route 70, the original redeveloper that had been suing the township, will retain one of the lots on which three retail pads will be built.
The second lot will be conveyed to TCA Properties, which will build an “indoor recreation center” at the site, according to a copy of a resolution on Tuesday night’s council meeting agenda.
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The agenda does not include the financial particulars of the new plan. In 2007, when M&M was appointed redeveloper for the entire project – with the hopes of building a full-service hotel there – the company, led by developer Jack Morris, agreed to purchase the site for $7.5 million. No money was ever exchanged, however, because the developer was not responsible for purchasing the site until the planning board approved what would be developed there.
Mayor John Ducey and the township council terminated the agreement in 2014, after M&M had failed to meet numerous deadlines and unsuccessfully pitched a residential condominium plan for the site which would have violated the original agreement. M&M quickly filed a lawsuit, a bench trial for which began earlier this year.
The township, then led by Mayor Joseph C. Scarpelli, bought the site in 2003 for $6.1 million. It was formerly housed a Foodtown supermarket and Bradlees store.
The council will consider the new plan at its meeting May 23, which begins at 7 p.m. at the township municipal complex.
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