Asbury Park's luxury high rise on Esperanza ashes more than halfway up

ASBURY PARK - The race to the top is past the halfway point at 1101 Ocean Avenue, the city's next big thing to brag about.

Even as nor'easter winds pummeled the Jersey Shore last week, crews kept working on the steel tower that dots the city skyline near the boardwalk, filling the spot that was home to long-stalled dreams previously known as "C-8" and "Esperanza."

Concrete is now being poured on the 10th floor of the high rise, which will top out at 16 floors when completed.

Although the skeleton frame is coming together in plain view, details on amenities remain unavailable. Watch the video above to see a rendering of how it will look when completed. But expectations run high, local real estate experts said.

"I think it's going to give Asbury Park another boost of reality of what we're going to become," said Sammy Boyd, with John C. Conover Agency, a real estate firm. "Asbury Park is as good a getaway as the Hamptons."

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The Press took an exhaustive look at how Asbury Park has rebuilt itself into what Budget Travel Magazine now calls the "Coolest Small Town in America." Read that report here.

The video below shows how Asbury Park has changed in the past two decades, from being the pariah of the Shore to a must see destination.

The building will include luxury apartments, a boutique hotel and 23,000 square feet of retail and amenity space — an infusion of new housing and commercial buzz in a city in the midst of a continuing renaissance.

"We continue to accelerate construction, and will announce more detailed information on a sales opening date in the coming months," said Brian Cheripka, senior vice president of land and development at iStar, the project developer.

"Like the development of The Asbury, our award-winning boutique hotel that opened in 2016, we believe this mixed-use project will again set a new standard for architectural design and customer experience."

iStar hasn't announced any of the retailers expected to join the space, nor the total cost of the building.

The company is the city's master developer for its waterfront. 1101 Ocean Avenue — the formal name of the project — will include 130 residential units, and the hotel will have 54 rooms.

John Loffredo, a local real estate agent who formerly served on city council, said the project will be the hot ticket in town — a prediction made in the absence of any price information.

"People are really excited," Loffredo said. "I have a feeling that place is going to be a big market."

Loffredo said he's already received several inquiries from people interested in owning a unit at 1101 Ocean Avenue.

Both Loffredo and Boyd expect the condos will begin at around $1 million.

"They (iStar) seem to be marketing toward Manhattan," Boyd said. "There's more people in New York with more money."

Asbury Park Mayor John Moor said the development is expected to bring in between $2 million and $2.5 million each year in property tax revenue, comprising nearly 10 percent of the city's coffers.

Such grand projects can also work as a catalyst for more building.

When complete, the project may help turn the page on a negative chapter in the city's history.

The site of the new construction has been targeted unsuccessfully for development for nearly 30 years. In 1989, developer Joseph Carabetta started constructing the Ocean Mile luxury condominium project at the site. It got the C-8 nickname after the land parcel it was located on.

He abandoned the project after losing a $41 million funding commitment. Carabetta filed for bankruptcy in 1992.

In 2006, Hoboken-based developer Metro Homes imploded the 12-story skeleton C-8 structure and began building a 224-unit condominium complex that was planned to be called the Esperanza.

But as the real estate market tanked a year later amid the dawn of the Great Recession, the company halted construction. Check out the video of the implosion below.

Peter S. Reihnhart, director of the Kislak Real Estate Institute at Monmouth University, said he believes 1101 Ocean Avenue has it's postives, yet still faces challenges.

"Its location is as good as they can get in Asbury Park," Reihnhart said, referring to iStar.

He noted, however, the building will likely face marketing competition from nearby Pier Village in Long Branch, where prices exceed $1 million.

"I don't think the market is that deep for million-dollar homes," Reihnhart said.

Asbury will find out soon enough. The target date for completion is 2019.

Austin Bogues 732-643-4009; abogues@gannettnj.com