Ft. Monmouth Building Boom: Townhomes, Waterfront Walkway Coming

OCEANPORT, NJ — With the arrival of spring, the Fort Monmouth redevelopment boom is clearly in full swing. The same developer who owns Bell Works in Holmdel is expanding his Monmouth County footprint, and will soon be building 144 town homes at the old Fort Monmouth site.

The developer is Somerset Development, owned by Ralph Zucker. This comes on the heels of last week's news that another builder, RPM Development, opened rental units at Fort Monmouth (called Liberty Walk) and converted Officers' Row into 68 private homes for sale (called East Gate). There are even plans being discussed to build a gym (Fort Athletic Club), a microbrewery and a bowling center at Fort Monmouth.

On Tuesday, Zucker announced his company, Somerset, received approval from the Oceanport Planning Board to redevelop a 15-acre parcel of land on Signal Avenue near the Oceanport entrance to Fort Monmouth.

Plans include 144 market-rate town homes and 36 affordable housing units as well as a waterfront promenade. You can see renderings above.

Somerset plans to break ground at Fort Monmouth later in 2021.

Fort Monmouth is a 1,127-acre former U.S. Army post in Oceanport. It was used by the U.S. Army for years, but officially closed in 2011, although activity had been winding down there for years. Ever since, acres and acres of land at Fort Monmouth have sat empty. U.S. Army barracks were abandoned.

The 15-acre parcel Somerset purchased is known as the Lodging Area, and it formerly housed barracks for the U.S. Army and runs along Parker Creek.

Somerset says its new town homes will feature high ceilings, rear-loaded two-car garages, driveways and spacious interiors. Residents will also have access to a private back deck with room for grilling and socializing, and select homes along the waterfront will also feature private roof decks.

Somerset also plans to build a 50-foot waterfront esplanade along Parker Creek and connect to the adjacent Allison Hall riverfront promenade via a boardwalk-style walkway.

Gardner Hall and Scriven Hall, located within the Fort Monmouth Historic District listed on the National Register of Historic Places, will be preserved and remodeled for use as affordable housing.

Related: Part Of Fort Monmouth Converted To Private Homes, Rentals (March 2)

“This moment represents an exciting next step as we move forward with plans to reinvigorate a place with both incredible history and unique character," said Ken Gold, vice president of acquisitions and development at Somerset Development. "We consider our contribution to Fort Monmouth’s redevelopment to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that can help transform it into a truly walkable, vibrant place to live and visit.”

“Somerset Development has an incredible history of transforming challenging sites into dynamic, thoughtfully-designed projects and we’re proud to welcome them to the Fort Monmouth community,” said Bruce Steadman, executive director at Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority. “Despite the ongoing pandemic, we anticipate 2021 will see renewed acceleration and positive momentum across all new and ongoing projects. We look forward to the forthcoming addition of Somerset’s new residential community in Oceanport, as well as the rehabilitation of one the Fort’s many historic assets for reuse.”

Somerset is in the midst of redeveloping The Ameritech Center in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, originally built as the former AT&T research facility. Similar to Bell Works, this is a 1.65-million square foot building, now known as Bell Works Chicagoland.

Zucker is transforming that into another "metroburb."

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