ASBURY PARTNERS AND LOCAL CONTRACTORS WORK TO ENSURE ASBURY HISTORY IS PRESERVED.

Asbury Park, N.J. – As Asbury Partners works steadily to revitalize Asbury’s Oceanfront, key pieces from the city’s rich history were recently preserved.  Local contractor Vaccaro Enterprises has ensured that historic architectural elements of the now dilapidated Casino building are carefully removed. 

Henry Vacarro is among several other local contractors that Asbury Partners has been working with, namely three others doing infrastructure improvements.  Asbury Partners will spend an estimated $3.2 million in local contracts for infrastructure improvements in the first two phases alone . 

“As a longtime resident of this city, it’s very meaningful to be a part of this project and to be able to bring on local workers that share the same personal investment,” said Henry Vaccaro, of Vaccaro Enterprises, who attended his first rock concert at a Bill Haley & His Comets show in the Casino building in 1955.  “I’ve seen this great city in its heyday, and it’s exciting for community members like myself and my crew to be part of its revitalization.”

Some of the salvaged items and their likeness will be kept for possible replication and reuse in the new oceanfront buildings. 

“We cannot move forward without remembering the past,” said Larry Fishman, Asbury Partners chief operating officer.  “Asbury Park has a rich history that its residents are proud of and I think that is at the heart of what makes rebuilding the oceanfront so exciting.  This history must be incorporated in the city’s revitalization, without it the plan has no character.”

Asbury Partners salvaged several architectural elements in the building, including:

• Four pieces of decorative limestone keystones;
• Eight decorative limestone sculptures;
• 40 decorative limestone coping for roofing and future arena construction;
• One decorative limestone door;
• “Casino Skating Palace” sign on the east wall of the building’s interior;
• Three decorative limestone cornices;
• Two decorative copper bay windows, and

Asbury Partners also plans to save one period chandelier for the city’s Historic Preservation Society. 

After all of the parts to be saved are taken away, the building – a longtime eyesore and reminder of the decline of a once vibrant city and oceanfront – will be completely demolished.  The entertainment and retail components of the oceanfront redevelopment will eventually take the place of the Casino building.

The Casino building was constructed in 1929 by prominent New York architects Warren & Wetmore.  Despite its name, there was no gambling in Asbury Park.  The building served as a gathering place for entertainment