Special City Council Meeting Wednesday As Scores Rally To Save Asbury Park Casino From Possible Demolition

ASBURY PARK, NJ— As questions continue to swirl regarding the fate of the iconic Asbury Park Casino, a crowd is set to turn out Wednesday night with questions for the city council.

The Asbury Park City Council will hold a special meeting on Wednesday, February 18, at 6 p.m. at Asbury Park High School, located at 1003 Sunset Avenue, "to address matters related to the breezeway at the boardwalk Casino", a notice to the public said.

In addition, a second public show of support has been scheduled for Saturday, organized by the Committee To Save The Asbury Park Casino, helmed by Robert Bruce Ender.

That event will be held Saturday at 11 a.m. on the Asbury Park boardwalk in front of the Casino.

Wednesday's meeting, and Saturday's planned show of support, come after the City of Asbury Park posted a notice stating their opposition to a demolition permit sought by the owners of the Casino property to raze the "breezeway" section of the building.

A red sign slapped onto the side of the Carousel building sounded an alarm for scores who are seeking answers. "This building has been declared unsafe for human occupancy," the notice read.

On January 27, the City of Asbury Park posted a statement regarding the potential demolition of the breezeway attached to the Casino building, written by Joseph J. Maraziti, Jr., Esq. of Maraziti Falcon LLP.

"With its request for a permit to demolish the Breezeway attached to the Casino Building, Madison Marquette has once again demonstrated its shocking disregard for the integrity of the iconic Asbury Park Boardwalk treasures that it has owned since 2010," the statement read. "The city is deeply disappointed in this latest illustration of a pattern of behavior that is disrespectful to the historic heritage of Asbury Park."

The statement continued: "Madison Marquette, through its subsidiary Madison Asbury Retail, LLC, has repeatedly breached the commitments it made when it entered into Subsequent Developer Agreement which it negotiated over 15 years ago with previous city officials to develop, finance, construct, operate, repair, and maintain, various sites of historic importance along the Boardwalk. The language of the 2010 agreement limits the legal options of the city to respond to breaches of the agreement by Madison Asbury Retail. Madison has routinely ignored notices of default issued by the city in the past."

And, the letter said: "There are multiple legal steps that must be taken by Madison Asbury Retail prior to the issuance of a demolition permit by the city construction officials. Among them, the city will insist on a report by a certified structural engineer as to the option to conduct repairs to assure public safety, rather than demolition of the building. As redevelopment counsel for the Asbury Park Waterfront Redevelopment Area, our firm has been charged with the task to identify creative options for the mayor and city council to consider in response to the plan to demolish the treasured Casino building."

Next, one day after letters were posted by the elected officials, including Senator Vin Gopal and Assemblywomen Margie Donlon and Luanne Peterpaul, urging Madison Marquette "to reconsider this course of action," a message appeared on the Asbury Park Boardwalk Facebook page — the page is operated by Madison Marquette — and on the developer's website.

This message also appeared one day before the first planned show of public support on the boardwalk, organized by Robert Bruce Ender.

"Several weeks ago, due to forecasts for stormy and snowy weather, we conducted a special inspection of the breezeway through the Casino building (that’s the part that is the extension of the boardwalk). This inspection noted an area of concern, and, to protect public safety, we closed the outdoor path to Ocean Grove," the message on the Asbury Park Boardwalk Facebook page said.

"We’re in Asbury. Rumors swirled. Specters of the implosion of the entire Casino building suddenly appeared all over social media. We even noticed a post about the curse of the Morro Castle. Understandably, our great State Senator Vin Gopal and our representatives Margie Donlan and Luanne Peterpaul expressed their concern over any potential demolition. Mayor Moor and the city council rightly urged us to find a solution."

The note continued: "We did. The breezeway will be repaired and preserved. As soon as the repairs are completed, the outdoor pathway to Ocean Grove will be reopened. Check back for updates."

The message assured that "there has never been any concern with the main portion of the Casino building – the Carousel, the vaulted area in the center, and wings on either side. Our incredibly creative team at Wooden Walls will continue to hold their series of imaginative and immersive events in the Carousel."

Requests for comment to Madison Marquette, Asbury Park Mayor John Moor, and Madison Asbury Retail were not immediately returned.

Ender, who is organizing Saturday's public show up support — and who created the S.A.P.C. committee — issued a statement reflecting his thoughts in response to the social media post from Madison Marquette on Feb. 6.

"A statement on the Asbury Park Boardwalk page (by developer Madison Marquette) was released on February 6, the day before the public show of support in front of the Casino. It tried to make light of the trouble that they themselves started when they submitted an application to demolish the Grand Entrance portion of the Casino structures. Appropriately, there was a tremendous public backlash to that action," he said.

He added that, in his opinion: "This anemic, largely backpedaling statement, designed and timed to pacify the uproar, was erroneously welcomed by few, because it decisively offered nothing to show that there weren’t any destructive intentions; prior to being called out by the public, the city and Senator Gopal’s office."

In the statement, he also said: "They suggest that this strong public reaction was fueled by 'rumors' (swirling). Would they state formally that the demolition permit application was a false rumor? If no such permit was applied for, please demonstrate that. A permit application to demolish the Casino 'breezeway' (as it is incorrectly titled) is not subject to interpretation. You don’t need to blow that out of proportion, it already has enormous implications. The developer has never released a statement explaining what the plan was for this building. Years of strategic silence, culminating in this application for a permit to demolish it, was more than enough cause for people to react in the way they did; to post on social media, to rally people together to show support and for Senator Gopal’s office to send an urging letter. This was not preservationist hypochondria."

Ender and others have pointed out that the statement did not indicate that the permit application to demolish the Casino's "breezeway" has since been withdrawn.

Ender said he believes: "Because the developer only planned to, but didn’t actually demolish anything, we are supposed to relax and feel that all will be well with the Casino, now and forever. That is not the case. The Casino is in fact, still very much at threat. It’s only been deferred."

And, he added: "This is a clear violation of a trust that the public and the City of Asbury Park had in Madison Marquette. The trust was in the belief that they would respect and preserve what should be untouchable landmarks, for as long as those buildings were in their stewardship. This shows that their broader intentions could in fact, involve the destruction of buildings of historical and architectural prominence, and we should no longer assume or believe that any, are off limits.
Faith has been broken. But now that we understand this, it directs local and state governing bodies to install their own measures to protect these places, regardless of who currently owns them."

At the first public show of support organized by Ender, close to 100 impassioned people turned out on the most bitterly cold day Asbury Park had seen in years for a public show of support aimed at saving the iconic Casino building from the wrecking ball.

It was not immediately clear if the request for a demolition permit to the city had been withdrawn, or if plans or a timeline for repairs to reopen the Casino breezeway had been presented.

Many on social media asked why, if the Casino walk-through — closed since 2023 due to expressed safety concerns posed by structural steel trusses – were going to be repaired, the message put out by Madison Marquette said only "the outdoor pathway to Ocean Grove will be reopened."

The notice by the city sparked an immediate outpouring on social media, with scores of individuals sounding a rallying cry to save the Casino — the 1929 Beaux Arts structure was designed by Warren and Wetmore, who also designed Grand Central Terminal in New York City and the Convention Hall and Paramount Theater at the other end of the Asbury Park boardwalk.

A crowd turned out at a recent Asbury Park city council meeting on January 28, imploring the council to work to save the Casino and demanding answers on next steps and what legal options might be explored. Others posed questions at the most recent city council meeting and implored elected officials to work to save the Casino.

Chuck Lada, administrator of the Facebook group "Save Asbury Park's History," spoke with Patch about what he hoped to impart and said there has been an outpouring by thousands who want to see the Asbury Park Casino, Carousel building, Convention Hall and Paramount saved. "The city's passive response to the deterioration of these buildings is puzzling. They have a legal right under the contract to declare an abandonment of these buildings by the owner and to take ownership back. . . We are past the point where we can expect repairs from Madison Marquette. Concerned people need to attend city council meetings and demand that the city take the buildings back to preserve them."

He added that if the structures were owned by the city, numerous funding avenues would be available that a private owner could not access. "These techniques were successfully used to save the Count Basie Theater," he said. "It is up to the city to step forward or accept the blame for their eventual demolition."

Lada has since kicked off a GoFundMe page, "Save Asbury Park's Historic Landmarks."

A petition kicked off by James Calder, "Stop The Demolition of the Asbury Park Casino Building" has garnered 9,285 signatures so far.

"We, the undersigned residents, visitors, preservation advocates, and supporters of historic Asbury Park call on the City of Asbury Park to formally retake possession of the Asbury Park Casino building, Convention Hall complex, and other historic boardwalk properties currently held by real estate developers, investors, and management groups due to repeated contract violations, prolonged neglect, and harm to these irreplaceable landmarks."

"It is folly to think that a purely financially motivated entity is touting 'preservation, over profit'. If in their statement, they’re going use words like 'repair and preserve' then we must ask specifically: 'Repair'— to what extent?' and 'Preserve' — until when?' Ender added in his statement.

"Those terms need to be defined and not vaguely, if Madison Marquette has truly (and wisely) had a change of heart and reversal of direction," Ender said. "If so, then let us get a formalized contractual agreement, with reasonably agreed upon timelines and a 'failure to perform' commitment. Equally important would be to designate an appropriate entity to enforce it. These last few weeks have revealed that we can no longer just assume or be assured that our landmarks will be protected, or even continue to exist, based on good faith alone."

Ender also urged those fighting not to focus only on memories of days gone by — he suggested that that passionate love for the building be harnessed to propel the fight for preservation forward to the structure's new chapter.

He called on the city to create an Asbury Park Historical Landmarks Commission, which currently does not exist; he spoke about the history of Grand Central Station, designed by the same architect who created the Casino and Convention Hall. He said Grand Central once faced its own uncertain future, until a fight ensured that went to the Supreme Court, where the ruling was in New York City's favor.

'That should be a model for how we go forward here. That station is one of the tenth most visited tourist attractions in the world — and the fourth most photographed building in New York City," he said.

"Let's fight this all the way and say, one day, that this is one of the most photographed buildings in New Jersey," he said.