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$200M waterfront development approved for Perth Amboy

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The Perth Amboy Redevelopment Agency (PARA) and the City have finalized agreements with Kushner Companies to move forward with a $200 million plan to clean up a brownfield site and create a waterfront neighborhood, to be known as “Sea Gate.”

The project will bring to life 602 market-rate rental units in five buildings, as well as a minimum of 5,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space on the Arthur Kill.

Additionally, the redevelopment will bring numerous public amenities funded by the redeveloper, such as a waterfront, tree-lined esplanade stretching from Front Street to the bulkhead between Smith Street and Washington Street, as well as a playground, landscaped plazas and dog park for public use.

“We have been working closely with the redeveloper to create the type of plan that can benefit the entire Perth Amboy community, not just the residents of Sea Gate,” Perth Amboy Mayor Helmin Caba said. “We are directly revitalizing unused, waterfront property and creating the type of development that will benefit Perth Amboy for years to come.”

Under the agreement, the redeveloper will pay the city about $1.2 million annually as part of a long-term “payment in lieu of taxes” agreement. City officials note the redevelopment area now generates only about $113,000 a year in net revenue. The City Council approved the annual service charge agreement at its Feb. 12 meeting.

City officials envision Sea Gate to be a bustling community, with vans shuttling neighborhood residents to the Perth Amboy Train Station. Restaurants would dot the property, with views of the water, while there would be plenty of shopping to create another destination point on the water, which in the future may include a connection to Manhattan-bound ferry and possibly a marina.

To fulfill PARA’s vision for Sea Gate, the redeveloper is purchasing properties from the city for $4.6 million; the plan will include parcels on Front, Commerce, Rector, Broad, High and Fayette streets, explained PARA Executive Director Tashi Vazquez.

Kushner Companies will also be contributing $1 million to Perth Amboy for affordable housing assistance, she added.

“This property is a waterfront gem that has been under-used for far too long,” Vazquez said. “There are environmental challenges that can only be handled through redevelopment with a well-capitalized private partner who can create the highest and best use of this property, fulfilling our vision.

The 15.75-acre redevelopment area, with landscaping, streetscape improvements and lighting funded by the developer, will include 909 parking spaces. The project, with one- and two-bedroom units, is expected to be constructed over a three-year period.



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Kindergarten registration to open for 2025-2026 – Star News Group

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LAVALLETTE — Lavallette Elementary School will be holding its annual Kindergarten Round-Up next month, setting the stage for next year’s youngest students to join the school community.

The registration event will be held on Thursday, March 6. Parents or guardians can schedule a time to drop off completed registration forms by calling the Lavallette Elementary School front office at 732-793-7722 Ext 200.

Kindergarten registration forms are now available on the school’s website at lavallettek12.org/article/1980539.

To be registered, children must be 5 years old on or before Oct. 1, 2025.

“Please bring your child’s official raised seal birth certificate, proof of residency (rental receipt, lease or tax bill), along with proof of immunizations and a physical examination within the last year,” the school said in a news release. “A limited number of tuition positions may be available.”

Required immunizations are: four DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis), three polio, three hepatitis B vaccines and two MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) and varicella, with one dose having been given on or after the first birthday. The last DTaP and polio immunizations must be given after the age of four.

This is an excerpt of the print article. For more on this story, read The Ocean Star—on newsstands Friday or online in our e-Edition.

Check out our other Lavallette stories, updated daily. And remember to pick up a copy of The Ocean Star—on newsstands Friday or online in our e-Edition.

Subscribe today! If you’re not already an annual subscriber to The Ocean Star, get your subscription today! For just $38 per year, you will receive local mail delivery weekly, with pages and pages of local news and online access to our e-edition on Starnewsgroup.com.

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Nursing major Elyse Ryan delivers care in areas where it’s needed most

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When the rural villagers of Frankadua, Ghana, saw Elyse Ryan ’26 in her nursing scrubs, they would stop her in the street to ask her to assess their medical conditions. Some had wounds that needed treatment. Others needed walkers or wheelchairs.

 

Elyse Ryan provides wound care in Ghana
Nursing major Elyse Ryan provides wound care in the Ghanaian village of Frankadua.

It was a scene that Ryan, a nursing student minoring in public health, got used to in her 18-day trip there during winter break.

“I like to be able to provide what I can, and learn from others,” says Ryan, who, like the locals she served, lived in sparse conditions with no running water and only intermittent electricity.

As a volunteer with International Volunteers HQ, she worked in a medical clinic in Frankadua and also made home visits, traveling with a translator on the back of a moped.

 

Elyse Ryan and a translator provide mobile medical care in Ghana
Ryan, with help from a translator, provide mobile medical care.

 

“The sense of community there was an invaluable experience for me,” said Ryan, who plans to return someday.

Closer to home, Ryan is doing research with nursing professor Vicki Brzoza and the local non-profit Homefront NJ on breast cancer education and screening for those who are temporarily without housing.

The research found that communication about available health resources for the underserved population was lacking. Brzoza and Ryan will be presenting at an upcoming nursing research conference in Philadelphia in April and have submitted their work to a national nursing journal.

“Elyse is a committed student,” said Brzoza. “She wants to make a difference, and she does.”

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Perth Amboy Moves on $200M Waterfront Redevelopment Plan

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Sea Gate

General Business

On Feb 14, 2025

The Perth Amboy Redevelopment Agency (PARA) is moving forward with a $200 million plan to clean up a brownfield site and create a waterfront neighborhood, to be known as “Sea Gate.” PARA and the city have finalized agreements with Kushner Companies to build 602 market-rate rental units in five buildings, as well as a minimum of 5,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space on the Arthur Kill.

The project is filled with public amenities funded by the redeveloper, such as a waterfront, tree-lined esplanade stretching from Front Street to the bulkhead between Smith Street and Washington Street, as well as a playground, landscaped plazas and dog park for public use.

“We have been working closely with the redeveloper to create the type of plan that can benefit the entire Perth Amboy community, not just the residents of Sea Gate,” said Mayor Helmin Caba. “We are directly revitalizing unused, waterfront property and creating the type of development that will benefit Perth Amboy for years to come.”

Under the agreement, the redeveloper will pay the city about $1.2 million annually as part of a long-term “payment in lieu of taxes” agreement. City officials note the redevelopment area now generates only about $113,000 a year in net revenue. The City Council approved the annual service charge agreement at its Feb. 12 meeting.

City officials envision Sea Gate to be a bustling community, with vans shuttling neighborhood residents to the Perth Amboy Train Station. Restaurants would dot the property, with views of the water, while there would be plenty of shopping to create another destination point on the water, which in the future may include a connection to Manhattan-bound ferry and possibly a marina.
To fulfill PARA’s vision for Sea Gate, the redeveloper is purchasing properties from the city for $4.6 million; the plan will include parcels on Front, Commerce, Rector, Broad, High and Fayette streets, explained PARA Executive Director Tashi Vazquez.
Kushner Companies will also be contributing $1 million to Perth Amboy for affordable housing assistance, she added.
As part of the agreement, the plan includes a memorial to Thomas Mundy Peterson, a city resident who was the first African American to vote in an election following the ratification of the 15th Amendment. His vote was cast on March 31, 1870.

“This property is a waterfront gem that has been under-used for far too long,” Vazquez said. “There are environmental challenges that can only be handled through redevelopment with a well-capitalized private partner who can create the highest and best use of this property, fulfilling our vision.

“There is a shortage of this higher-end type of rental housing in Perth Amboy, another key reason why we are moving forward with Sea Gate,” she added. “The redeveloper is envisioning such amenities as outdoor fire pits, barbeque areas, lounge space and other recreational areas that connect the tenants and the waterfront views.”

The 15.75-acre redevelopment area, with landscaping, streetscape improvements and lighting funded by the developer, will include 909 parking spaces. The project, with one- and two-bedroom units, is expected to be constructed over a three-year period.

To access more business news, visit NJB News Now.

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LD-39: Pallotta Clearly Targets Auth

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Jon Bramnick threw a party at last November’s League of Municipalities Convention in Atlantic City and one of those attending was Robert Auth, an assemblyman from LD-39 in northern Bergen County.

Frank Pallotta was paying attention and he didn’t like what he saw.

He put it this way:

“Recently, .. Assemblyman Bob Auth publicly rejected President Donald Trump, when he chose to align with, and endorse for Governor, self-proclaimed Trump-hater, State Senator Jon Bramnick. While Auth calls himself a ‘conservative,’ his actions tell a far different story.”

So now Pallotta says he’s running for the Assembly.

As we know, each district has two Assembly members with the other one here being John Azzariti.

But Pallotta is clearly targeting Auth, who he claims remained silent when Bramnick backed the Freedom to Read bill, which protects librarians from civil and criminal penalties regarding library books. Opponents say it allows pornography in schools.

Pallotta is no stranger to seeking office.

He ran unsuccessfully against CD-5 congressman Josh Gottheimer in 2020 and 2022.

Both times he ran “off the line” in the primary. And that’s a strategy Pallotta plans to employ again. He said:

“While I have great respect for the Bergen County Republican Organization’s (BCRO) approximately 800 Committee members, of which I remain an active member, I cannot in good conscience participate in an obsolete and antiquated convention process that can drag on for months, draining tens of thousands of dollars and critical resources away from what really matters – direct voter engagement. The main purpose of the county convention in past years had been to win placement on an organizational line – a line which no longer exists.”

Instead, Pallotta said he will focus on a direct connection with voters, “not backroom deals.”

That means paying attention to such issues as public safety, law enforcement, flood mitigation, crumbling infrastructure, overdevelopment, and the high cost of living.

Back when Auth was at Bramnick’s party, he said he was playing the “long game,” meaning that Bramnick remains the best GOP candidate to win the general election in a state where Dems still have a registration advantage of about 900,000.

On his reelection website the Auth campaign says:

“As our Assemblyman, Bob Auth has a proven record of commonsense leadership focused on helping the families, children, seniors, and taxpayers of Bergen and Passaic Counties. Whether it’s fighting for our fair share from Trenton or working within our communities, Bob Auth has your best interests at heart.”

 

 

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Westminster Conservatory to host free recitals for piano and flute

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originally published: 02/14/2025

(PRINCETON, NJ) — The Westminster Conservatory of Music will host two upcoming recitals; both are free and open to the public.

On Sunday, February 16, 2025 at 3:00pm, Westminster Conservatory faculty pianist Clipper Erickson will perform a solo recital entitled Spirituals and Sonatas. The recital will take place in Hillman Performance Hall in the Marion Buckelew Cullen Center, located at 101 Walnut Lane in Princeton, New Jersey.

The program includes two compositions by composers of African descent that incorporate material from the religious folksongs of African American culture: the Sonata in E Minor by Florence Price and Deep River from Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s 24 Negro Melodies. The program also includes three short works by Laurie Altman, Prelude 17, Chorale and Fugue in B Major/Minor, and Boogie; and Sonata in G Minor by Swedish composer Wilhem Stenhammar. 

On Thursday, February 20, 2025 at 12:15pm, the Volanti Flute Quartet will perform as part of the series Westminster Conservatory at Nassau. The recital will take place in the Niles Chapel of Nassau Presbyterian Church, 61 Nassau Street in Princeton, New Jersey.

Quartet members Jill Crawford, Ellen Fisher Deerberg, John Lane and Katherine McClure will perform on piccolo, flute, alto flute and bass flute. The program will include original flute music, Lullaby by Jennifer Higdon and Harmony in Blue and Gold by Eric Ewazen, and an arrangement for flutes of Debussy’s Arabesque No. 2.

This program is made possible in part by the Mercer County Cultural and Heritage Commission through funding from the Mercer County Board of Chosen Freeholders and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.

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Harmonium Choral Society presents “Sing Me To Heaven” concerts in March

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originally published: 02/14/2025

(MORRISTOWN, NJ) — Join the acclaimed 100-voice Harmonium Choral Society for their March concert on Saturday, March 1 @ 7:30pm or Sunday, March 2 @ 3:00pm at the Morristown United Methodist Church. The concert features Eleanor Daley’s exquisite Requiem and works by Heinrich Schutz, Dave Matthews and Caldwell and Ivory’s Ain’t No Grave.

“Named for composer Daniel Gawthrop’s iconic Sing Me to Heaven, this concert features a typical Harmonium eclectic array of music celebrating the afterlife, from Sheppard’s 500-year-old setting of Media vita, to a choral cover of Dave Matthews’s Gravedigger,” said Artistic Director Dr. Anne Matlack. “Daley’s a cappella short Requiem is an underperformed gem, while Australian composer Sarah Hopkins’s Past Life Melodies is like nothing else, with its throaty chanting and overtone singing. You need to be there to experience it!”

Harmonium Choral Society is dedicated to ensuring that all their patrons are able to enjoy the arts. For large print programs or accessibility needs or concerns, please contact them at least two weeks prior to the performance, and they will assist you in the best manner we have available.

Harmonium Choral Society is a participating arts organization that offers free tickets through the Families First Discovery Program.

Directed by Dr. Anne J. Matlack since 1987, Harmonium Choral Society is one of New Jersey’s leading choral arts organizations. The 100-voice chorus has been recognized for its musical excellence and innovative programming and has commissioned over 30 works by contemporary composers to keep the choral arts vibrant and alive.

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In addition, the High School Student Choral Composition Contest has won the prestigious Chorus America Education and Outreach Award. Harmonium also sponsors musicianship workshops and an outreach chorus that performs in schools, retirement facilities, and other venues. The chorus tours internationally, most recently to the Balkans in the summer of 2022.

Funding has been made possible in part by Morris Arts through the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner of the National Endowment for the Arts.

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Explore New Jersey, Thomas Grothues Appointed Director of the Rutgers University Marine Field Station, Barcade in Jersey City to Close; More Dining News, Morris County Hosts Veterans Services Event to Expand Outreach, Newmark Associates successfully trades house of worship

Burlington County Women’s Advisory Council, Sinkhole keeping I-80 eastbound in Wharton, New Jersey shut. Here’s what experts think caused it, Black Ladies of Construction Opens New HQ, Callahan to deliver commencement address at Centenary & Cynthia A. Close

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Cynthia A. Close

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Cynthia A. Close, 70, of Point Pleasant Boro, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, February 11, 2025 at her home. Cindy was an accounts payable specialist who retired several years ago. Cindy loved spending time with her family and really dedicated her life to her sons and most recently to her grandson, Lukas. She really enjoyed living at the Jersey Shore and loved jogging on the boards with the ocean as her backdrop. Cindy loved her flower pots, rolling thunder roller coaster, chocolate covered strawberries, snuggling on the couch with Lukas and keeping the house clean. She loved spending time by the pool at the house with her late husband Kev and Brandi (german shepard) as he cooked tuna on the grill. But above all, she loved watching her sons and grandson play sports as she cheered the words “Go Go Gilio” that could be heard across the playing field.

Born in Elkins, West Virginia, she grew up in Spring Lake Heights and has lived in Point Pleasant Boro for the past 20 years or so.

Cindy joins her predeceased family members in Heaven, including her parents Denver and Faye Close; and her husband Kevin Gerrity. Surviving are her sons Clement Gilio of Wall and Christopher Gilio of Point Pleasant; grandson Lukas Gilio; sister Kimberly Bennett of Farmingdale; brother Jeffrey Close who resides in Florida; her cousins Sherry, Carole, Cathi, Karan, Jimmy and Aunt Raine; as well as her first husband and father of her 2 sons Clement Gilio of Toms River.

A private cremation took place under the direction of O’Brien Funeral Home, Brick. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in her memory to the American Cancer Society.

Cindy and her family thanks everyone for their love and support.

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Barcade in Jersey City to Close; More Dining News

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Closings

Barcade, Jersey City

After 14 years, Barcade—a chain that pairs classic video and arcade games with craft ales and pub fare—has decided to close its Jersey City location when its lease ends on June 15. “We hope to return to JC one day in a new location,” the owners wrote on social media, adding that in the meantime, they’re opening in Lower Manhattan this spring.

Le Salbuen, Montclair

When Le Salbuen opened in 2012, it won fans for boosting breakfast and brunch staples to flavorful new heights. The popular farm-to-table spot, which was on New Jersey Monthly’s list of the best restaurants in Montclair, closed suddenly last week. The space is reportedly slated to become a Japanese restaurant.

Openings

Sihana Bistro, Newark

Plate of food and a cocktail at Sihana Bistro in Newark

Sihana Bistro in Newark Photo: Courtesy of Urby Newark

This all-day bistro, replacing Jamie Knott’s Kinjo, brings a bold fusion of Mediterranean and Georgian flavors to Newark’s thriving food scene. Located inside the Newark Urby building, it offers dishes such as Khinkali (Georgian dumplings) and Chkmeruli (creamy chicken in garlic sauce), as well as craft cocktails made with spirits from the city’s All Points West Distillery. The restaurant also features Sunday live-music sessions and interactive cooking classes. Owners Kreshnik Berisha and David Khabuliani also helm Newark’s Sihana Café and Five Corners Ristorante.

Corner Slice, Maplewood

After seven years in Manhattan, where its New York Square Pie was named one of the best slices in the city, Corner Slice has moved to Maplewood. It’s known for its intensely flavorful, light and crispy crust. Toppings include house sausage, roasted mushrooms and Calabrian chili bomba. Order individual slices or whole pies, available for takeout or dine-in.

Life After Restaurant & Lounge, Edgewater

Located inside the Metropolitan apartment complex, this restaurant offers thoughtfully curated Southern, Caribbean and Spanish food. Also on tap: craft cocktails and live music.

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