Sale of Neptune Senior Citizen Center Tabled by Committee
By DON STINE
Efforts to sell the Neptune’s senior citizens center to fund acquisition and improvements to a larger facility are on hold after an ordinance authorizing the sale was tabled at the Sept. 22 Township Committee meeting.
The ordinance called for the township to sell the property at public auction with a $2.5 million minimum bid. Jersey Shore University Medical Center, just a bit west of the senior center, has expressed a potential interest in purchasing the property.
One caveat in the ordinance, however, was that a private sale of the site could take place if the buyer was an incorporated, nonprofit hospitable association, like Jersey Shore – a stipulation that brought comment by Committeeman James Manning Jr.
“In my mind we need to bid the property and that’s it. It someone wants to bid on it then let them bid on it,” he said last week.
Manning said he believes that a public auction is the more equitable way to sell the property and that the Township Committee will most likely take that stance as well.
“I’d rather receive bids than directly negotiate with the hospital or any other entity. If someone bids $3.5 million then that’s additional revenue for the township,” he said.
Michael Bascom, the township’s chief financial officer, acknowledged that Jersey Shore is “researching” a possible purchase and it was hoped the direct sale might accommodate them if they were really interested.
“A direct sale would save money needed for marketing, advertising and auctioning the property,” he said.
Bascom estimates those costs to be about $75,000
He said once the revised ordinance is adopted and the property goes to auction, it would probably not be sold until next spring at the latest.
Bascom said the renovations to the new senior citizens center will not be delayed because of waiting for the auction to be held.
“It will not delay the project because we are getting some short-term borrowing to move that project forward,” he said.
The township plans to purchase and renovate the old Rite Aid building, just east of the existing senior center at Route 33 and Neptune Blvd.
Repairs and renovations were originally proposed for the current 8,400-square-foot center but bids for that project were rejected by the governing body because they came in too high.
Instead, the vacant 12,500-square-foot Rite Aid building will be purchased and renovated since it has room for expansion and more parking.
The project will be funded through a $2.8 million bond ordinance with money from the sale of the old building used to pay down the bond.
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