Sports Complex For Foodtown Site Gets Brick Planners' Approval

BRICK, NJ — A massive sports and retail complex that will replace the asphalt and concrete that has sat empty for more than a decade is closer to becoming a reality, after the Brick Township Planning Board gave final approval to site plans on Wednesday night.

The site plan for the complex proposal by HFZ Superdome LLC, initially presented to the public at a Brick Township Council meeting in May 2017, still needs approval from the state Department of Environmental Protection under the Coastal Area Facilities Review Act, as well as county approvals.

The plan calls for a 68,400-square-foot domed facility with sports fields inside, a 27,600-square-foot basketball center, a 13,440-square-foot two-story building that will include offices and other facilities, and a pair of outdoor beach volleyball courts. The retail portion of the site, owned by M&M Realty but presented as one plan by HFZ Superdome, includes a pad for a 4,300-square-foot restaurant with a drive-through, a 6,400-square-foot retail building and a nearly 23,000-square-foot retail building. There will be 388 parking spaces total on the site.

Jeffrey j. Carr of Lindstrom, Diessner & Carr, P.C., the project's planner, said the CAFRA permit is the largest remaining approval needed, but that they are hopeful the DEP will see the project's design as a positive for the site because it reduces the impervious coverage at the site.

Impervious coverage— buildings, parking lots, sidewalks and such that cause runoff instead of allowing rain or snow to just seep into the ground — of the site led to a lengthy discussion at the hearing. Initial plans were said to have 80.6 percent impervious coverage, and the plans received a variance waiver based on that figure. But Carr said a math error was discovered and the impervious coverage of the proposal is 87.1 percent.

Carr said that while the 87 percent is much higher than the original estimate, the project still reduces the coverage of the long-abandoned parking lot, and believes that will be seen as a positive by the DEP. The site is adjacent to Forge Pond and near the Metedeconk River, both environmentally sensitive areas.

The Planning Board unanimously approved the site plan, with provisions that HFZ Brick will continue to work with township officials to increase landscaping and add items such as rain gardens that will further reduce the impervious coverage.

The planning board's approval is a significant step to finally closing a chapter that has lasted for more than 15 years. Brick Township initially purchased the site, once home to Foodtown and Bradlees, in 2003 for more than $6 million to prevent construction of a home improvement store. In 2009 the former Foodtown was demolished, but despite an agreement the following year to redevelop the site it languished untouched until 2014, when the township sought to void the redevelopment agreement with M&M Realty Partners.

M&M initially proposed a hotel at the site, but changed to a proposal for residential units, a move the township ardently opposed before attempting to void the agreement.

That led to legal wrangling until early 2017, when township officials and M&M reached a settlement. The plan to turn it into a sports complex and retail site was announced soon after. It received approval from the state Department of Transportation in September 2017.

"Finally," said Peter Tosca, who is overseeing the project for HFZ Brick, part of HFZ Capital, which has a similar recreation center in Waldwick, expressing relief at the vote. "It's been a long 2-1/2 years."

Carr said the approvals needed, including the CAFRA permit and from the Brick Township MUA, the Ocean County Soil Conservation District and the Ocean County Planning Board, will likely mean groundbreaking won't happen until sometime in the fall.

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