A Letter to the Editor . . .
Site's buyers missing the boat
I guess it's over. How sad the group of investors originally from Gravesend Brooklyn who are buying the Takanassee Beach Club property, also known as U.S. Life Saving Station No. 5, have money but such limited vision.
My parents, second-generation Ashkenazi Jews whose parents immigrated from Eastern Europe, were educated people who taught me a deep appreciation of the beauty of nature as well as the preservation of history. I don't have the money, but I do have the vision to see what an incredible tourist destination this property could become.
Imagine the renovated historic buildings as bed-and-breakfast rooms renting for $200 a night. A restaurant/bar overlooks the beauty of the property, with views of both the ocean and lakefront. A small museum has a gift shop. There's a new boutique hotel built in the style of the old Victorian hotels that once graced our shoreline, a bait-and-tackle shop, surf shop and beach sundries — all possible renewable income for this property.
The investors' vision is a wall of four-story residential buildings that will block out the light and cool ocean breezes that now flow through the property. In this real estate market, several large oceanfront properties in Long Branch are available to be developed in this manner without destroying the historic site of the U.S. Life Saving Service. The three Life Station buildings on their original site at Takanassee is what gives them their rare value.
Ignorantly, they are about to throw the baby out with the bath water. I urge them to
rethink their plans.
Beth Woolley
TRUSTEE
LONG BRANCH
HSTORICAL ASSOCIATION
