POINT PLEASANT BEACH - Over the last century, 641 Arnold Ave. has been home to a post office, apartments, a rotating cast of small retail shops and, for nearly a century, Gottlieb's Department Store.

But 113 years after Morton Gottlieb built his store out of the ashes of a fire, the "Gottlieb building" could soon be just a memory.

Developer Joseph Carannante, who lives in the borough, did not originally plan to knock the building down. When he purchased the property for $800,000 last year, according to public records, Carannante knew there were problems.

Walls were bowing. Mortar was crumbling.

But that was just the beginning, Carannante said. He commissioned an engineering report which revealed that the entire second floor of the building was sloped. Cracks in the foundation meant the building was settling unevenly.

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All told, the cost of rehabilitating the building was estimated at over $170,000, the report said.

“When we first looked at it, we thought we could address a lot of the structural concerns, as it is,” Carannante told the Point Pleasant Beach zoning board on Thursday. “But the building is in pretty bad shape and it’s not something we can rehab.”

Carannante plans to knock the building down and replace it with a new mixed-use building, with three retail spaces — including a flagship office for his business Cara Realtors — on the first floor and five apartments on the second floor, including an affordable housing unit.

The project needs approval by the borough zoning board because of the number of apartments and proximity — less than a foot — of the project to neighboring buildings.

One neighbor, Scott Dolan, has already filed suit against Carannante claiming that the existing building is partially built on his property, meaning the project can't proceed without his consent.

That case is currently before the state Superior Court. The zoning board is scheduled to hear about the project on Oct. 3

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Founding fathers

The Gottlieb building is immediately recognizable in downtown Point Pleasant Beach. It's slightly taller than the buildings around it, and its entire facade is covered in red and white bricks.

On the ground floor, it's home to Magnolia Lane Design, a furniture store, and the Urban Exchange consignment shop.

But near the top of the building, the name "Gottlieb" is still engraved in stone.

“That’s almost a landmark building,” River Vista Lane resident Craig Sulaitis told the zoning board. “I’ve been here since 1960, and I think it’s a unique-looking building. It’d be nice if we kept it.”

The Gottlieb family was one of the "founding fathers" of Point Pleasant Beach, said Point Pleasant Beach Museum administrator Richard Morris. The store had been in operation for years before the 1906 fire, which actually started in an apartment above the old location.

And while the department store, which closed in the late 1980s, was one of the borough's longest-running businesses, the family was even more ingrained into the fabric of the community.

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Family patriarch Morton Gottlieb was a charter member of the borough’s fire and first aid squads, and daughter Stella was a longtime teacher at the Ocean Road school.

So crucial to the borough were the Gottliebs that the museum, bursting at the seams in a small room next to borough hall, has two boxes dedicated to the family itself and numerous artifacts from the store, including a receipt, counter signs and advertising buttons.

"I hate to see anything disappear — any old building, no matter what it is," Morris said. "To see (the Gottlieb building) disappear, to me, would be a tragic move."

But Carannante on Thursday played down the aesthetic nature of the building. The building isn't particularly unique because much of Arnold Avenue is a hodgepodge of sizes and architectural styles.

“The look, the facade that everybody is so enamored with … When you go down Arnold Avenue, there’s no consistency. I don’t see a brick building being any kind of consistent,” Carannante said. “I’m not trying to create something that’s abnormal.

"I live in Point Beach. I want something that people will say, ‘That’s a beautiful building, thank you.’”

Mike Davis has spent the last decade covering marijuana legalization, transportation and New Jersey local news. Contact him at 732-643-4223, mdavis@gannettnj.com or @byMikeDavis on Twitter.