Cookie Puss And Fudgie The Whale Bite The Dust In Berkeley

by Patricia A. Miller

It was a popular pit stop for decades on Route 9 South in Bayville.

But the battered Carvel store - part of the Beachwood Shopping Center - was knocked into oblivion over the past few days. All that remains is the concrete pad the ice cream store stood on.

That means the slow and fastidious demolition of Bayville’s biggest and oldest eyesore can’t be far behind. Tuesday afternoon there were a number of pieces of large equipment lined up in the section of the parking lot that hasn’t already been torn up.

“The permit is issued,” Mayor Carmen F. Amato Jr. said. ”Once the debris is all cleared out and abatement done, they can commence demolition. I have my hard hat ready!”

Contractors have begun removing the asbestos in the battered Beachwood Shopping Center over the past several weeks, another step on the way to the eyesore’s demolition, Mayor Carmen F. Amato Jr. said.

“The asbestos abatement has moved to the basement of the mall,” the mayor said. “We are making tremendous progress right now.”

All state agencies that require notification for asbestos removal have been notified and asbestos in the old Carvel building was removed before it was torn down, he said.

“The redeveloper has mobilized additional equipment on site and the site prep-work continues along the sides and the back of the building for demolition,” Amato said.

Owner Priscilla Oughton - whose father James R. Johnson built the shopping center in the 1960s - granted the township access to the site in June, Amato said.

“The town and redeveloper couldn’t do anything on site until we received permission from owner to access the property,“ he has said.

Gaining access to the site came after years of battling with Oughton, whose late father James R. “Jimmy” Johnson built the shopping place back in the 1960s. He promptly named it ”Beachwood Shopping Center” even though the property is in Berkeley after a tiff with Berkeley officials.

Oughton has been - at least on paper - fined $5,000 a day since a fire broke out on the site at the height of Superstorm Sandy, posing a danger local firefighters who battled high winds, pelting rain and flying sheet metal.

But Township Attorney Lauren R. Staiger has said it is doubtful the township will ever recoup what Oughton owes.

Photo credits: Mayor Carmen F. Amato Jr. and Bill McGrath