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By DON STINE
The Neptune Senior Center will be auctioned off to fund renovations to a new, larger center under an ordinance adopted by the Township Committee Monday night.
The auction is expected to be held in the spring.
“I am a little bit upset to lose that great corner location but the seniors will be better off with a new building,” said Committeeman Thomas J. Catley.
The ordinance allows the township to sell the property, at the intersection of Neptune Boulevard and Route 33, at public auction for a $2.5 million minimum bid.
The new senior center will be located in the old Rite Aid building, just east of the current center, which the township plans to purchase and renovate.
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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 to become the new senior center since is 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.
“The township and the senior citizens will benefit quite a bit from the sale with that money going to offset the costs,” said Deputy Mayor Michael Brantley
A previous draft ordinance, however, would have also allowed a private sale to an incorporated, nonprofit hospitable association, like Jersey Shore Jersey Shore University Medical Center, just west of the senior center.
Jersey Shore has expressed a potential interest in purchasing the property, township officials said.
Committeeman James Manning Jr. expressed concern over the private sale aspect and the ordinance was tabled at the Sept. 22 committee meeting.
Manning said he believes that a public auction is the more equitable way to sell the property.
“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.
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