The site of a future ‘sports dome’ on Route 70 in Brick Township is being readied for construction, though last-minute changes will bring the developer back to the township’s planning board before work can get underway to build the facility.
“They’re going to be submitting, very shortly, a new application to the planning board to make some changes,” Mayor John Ducey said this week, adding, however that the developer of the site “still wants to open by fall [2023].”
Ducey said the revised plans have yet to be submitted to the township, so details were not available, but the revisions center on a traditional free-standing building in the rear of the site that has been designed as a basketball court. The basketball court had been planned as a second phase of the project after the completion of the larger “dome” building. Ducey said the main building, to his understanding, is not part of the planned revisions.
The complex, being built by developer Peter Tasca and financed by a group of investors, will be constructed in the rear of the former Foodtown property on Route 70, which currently houses an Aldi supermarket. The front portion, where the Aldi now stands and where a restaurant is eventually planned, is owned by commercial developer Jack Morris. Tasca’s group owns the back half of the property.
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The former Foodtown property on Route 70, now populated with an Aldi and construction materials for a sports dome, Feb. 2023. (Photo: Daniel Nee)
A layout rendering of the forthcoming athletic facility at the former Foodtown site on Route 70 in Brick. (Source: Official Document)
A layout rendering of the forthcoming athletic facility at the former Foodtown site on Route 70 in Brick. (Source: Official Document)
The sports dome is expected to function much like its sister property, the “Superdome” located in Waldwick, Bergen County, which is also run by Tasca. In 2019, the planning board approved a site plan for the facility, which was described as a multi-building sports complex which includes indoor basketball and soccer, outdoor volleyball, a jogging path and outdoor turf area.
Tasca has previously said the Superdome will consist of a multitude of activity venues, including a soccer/lacrosse field, four basketball courts, a wave pool for indoor surfing and an approximately 7,000 square physical therapy facility. The complex will also house a dance studio, hot yoga studio, a walking path and food court. There will also be rooms large enough to accommodate children’s birthday parties and corporate outings, complete with video games, VR sports games and other fun features.
Last year, it was revealed that an initial group of investors backed out of the project after their holdings in residential real estate were impacted by the pandemic-era rent moratorium policy. A new group of backers said they would only build the facility if awarded a tax exemption plan. The township council passed the 30-year exemption in September 2022 in a 5-1 vote.
The layout of the proposed Foodtown redevelopment project. (Photo: Daniel Nee)
The former Foodtown property on Route 70, now populated with an Aldi and construction materials for a sports dome, Feb. 2023. (Photo: Daniel Nee)
After a small payment of just over $50,000 in the first year of its existence, the property will start paying $103,989, which will escalate to $367,339 by the final year, in 2053. The annual fixed payments will be submitted in lieu of traditional property taxes. The township’s school district will also be granted limited use of the facility as part of the tax exemption agreement.
While the developers have indicated they plan on keeping up with the expected construction timeline, the project is behind the schedule that had been submitted as part of the tax deal. That document called for the domed structure that will house the bulk of the athletic facilities to have been completed in December 2022, followed by the construction of traditional buildings and amenities between February and March 2023, with final sitework wrapping up in May 2023.
A date has not yet been set for the planning board hearing.
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