Crumbling Home at Victory Park to Be Demolished With Footprint of Building Protected

Rumson is moving forward with the demolition of the boarded-up building on West River Rd. adjacent to .

The borough acquired the lot with a Monmouth County Open Space Grant in 2008 and completed the transaction this year. (Click to read more about the Open Space Project)

Their next step is to take down the current building and blend this land addition in with Victory Park. In order to do so, the has now submitted a letter to the State Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for a CAFRA Voluntary Reconstruction Permit to demolish the existing three-story building at Victory Park and the construction of a similar three-story wood frame structure to be used by the Borough.

“We want to get their permission that we can take the building down, which is a hazard obviously, and then rebuild on the same spot,” said Mayor John Ekdahl at the council meeting on September 27.

Although there are no definite plans to rebuild on the site anytime soon, Mayor Ekdahl said it was important to get permission to build there in the future. “If we took it down without the DEP’s blessing and we wanted to rebuild, we’d be another 30 or 40 feet back from the river, so the footprint is an important thing to have,” explained Ekdahl.

The building’s footprint will be preserved for five years. If nothing is built there after the five-year period, the borough can apply for an extension, said Ekdahl.

Although the borough has no plans to rebuild, there are local private organizations who are interested in the opportunity.

According to the mayor, an independent crew club comprised exclusively of local high school students, is interested in building a boathouse at the site. Click to read what has been proposed by the organization.

The rebuild would be privately funded, but would have to allow for public access due to the fact that it is a part of the Monmouth County Open Space Project.

According to officials, they hope to have the building demolished within the next month. As for the future of the site, “We’ve reserved the place to build it,” said Mayor Ekdhal. “We will see what happens.”