Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 05/23/07
ASBURY PARK Promising a "cool, hip cafe on the beach," Madison Marquette is
set to
open the new Salt Water Beach Cafe on schedule at 4 p.m. Saturday in the former
Howard
Johnson's glass-walled, rotunda-shaped restaurant.
The national retail-development specialists are investing $150 million to $200
million to
rebuild and renovate the entertainment and retail sector of the waterfront,
gutted the
worn-out HoJo's and created a stylish beach cafe with new lighting, flooring,
bar and
ceiling fans in the Fifth Avenue Pavilion. The project was completed in less
than three
months.
Gary Mottola, president of Madison Marquette investments, told the City Council
in late
February he could rebuild the restaurant in a hurry. Gabe Marabella, a seasoned
Philadelphia and South Jersey restaurateur, is the operating partner. Marabella
has been
married for 28 years to Mottola's sister.
"He (Mottola) asked me to do it, and I said "great,' " Marabella said Tuesday.
"He wanted
this to be a showcase for his company the first big project."
City Manager Terence Reidy said Mottola had promised "a Jersey Shore
restaurant" to open
for this summer, "so I'm very happy."
Madison Marquette is "an outfit that knows how to stay on schedule. And it's no
small
matter to go into that restaurant and turn it around the way they did and have
it open for
Memorial Day weekend as promised."
Mottola said Tuesday that the company has been low-key about publicizing its
work on
the beachfront.
"We want to move our accomplishments along and be sure of what we will have
accomplished," he said.
Madison Marquette, which signed an agreement with Asbury Partners to take over
the
entertainment and retail redevelopment, still has to sign a developer's
agreement with the
city. Those negotiations are expected to be ongoing over the next month.
Last week, Mottola told the city's Chamber of Commerce that a refurbished
Paramount
Theatre will open July 1. Over the next few years, Madison Marquette plans to
take on the
costly renovations of the city's historic Convention Hall and Casino, build a
new hotel and
rebuild the boardwalk pavilions.
Downstairs, upstairs
The Salt Water will start with seating on the first floor and is expected
shortly to open the
upstairs. Kevin O'Kane is the Philadelphia-trained chef.
For the first week, the Salt Water will be open daily from 4 to 11 p.m.,
Marabella said. By
the following weekend, it will open for lunch with hours of 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
daily except
for Tuesdays when it will be closed.
Marabella said the dinners will offer small-plate items in the $12 to $16 range
and entrees
in the $20 vicinity.
The restaurant wants to draw in the beach crowd.
"If you're in your bathing suit, you need a shirt and shoes," he said. "We'll
also have 50
outdoor seats and a boardwalk menu."
"This is phase one of a two-phase rehabilitation of the Fifth Avenue Pavilion,"
Reidy said.
"The agreement was that there would be certain improvements made and a
restaurant
would be open for the season.
"At the end of the summer season, the plan is that the restaurant would
(temporarily) shut
down, and the rehabilitation of the pavilion will be completed," Reidy said.
"All those
approvals should be in place by the end of the summer so that by the summer of
2008 we
should have a totally renovated structure."
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