Pier Village: Long Branch's Salvation or the Shore's Damnation?

Pier Village is undeniably impressive. It stands alone on the shore front of Long Branch as a polished complex featuring bright colors and a scale unlike anything else in the town. Two deluxe apartment buildings, one of which houses a four-story parking garage that is unseen to the outside world, and 30 shops that give the place the feel of an ocean front Broad Street in Red Bank. However, venture too far down the road or even look across the street and it becomes more of a dystopian Xanadu than metropolitan hot spot.

Just across Ocean Ave lies a run-down, lower class neighbor that once also stood where Pier Village now rests. The road is freshly paved and features decorative masonry work at intersections, but the residents are clearly struggling to get by. Meanwhile, they must face this stately pleasure palace that rises high above any of their modest colonials. The average apartment in Pier Village rents for about $2500 dollars per month, making living there a pipe dream for much of the town.

So who lives in Pier Village? Businessmen, doctors, lawyers, airline pilots and college students. Standing in the lobby of the apartment building is to watch a parade of yuppies who seem like they would belong in New York City more than Long Branch. Students of Monmouth University are a frequent sight, as the school houses qualified students several apartments in Pier Village.

Frank Altman, a junior at Monmouth University, has been staying there since January. “It’s okay if you don’t like insulation,” says Altman. Altman says that his apartment has been having problems since winter. “The pipes froze every time the temperature dropped and the windows are so drafty it felt like a meat locker at night.”

Peter Perea, a senior at Monmouth University, stayed at Pier Village last year through the school. “Every morning at 7 am the noise started from them building a Gold’s Gym under my apartment,” says Clancy. “I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like there when they start those two new buildings.”



The buildings Perea refers to are the recently aannounced expansion of Pier Village, where two more retail/apartment buildings are plnned to be built on Ocean Ave, directly in front of the two existing buidlings. Pier Village developers, Applied Development Cos. have the full support of the town council to acquire more land through eminent domain if necessary according to the Alanticville.

“Everyone benefits from Pier Village, especially the rich,” adds Altman. “The little fish get eaten by the big fish, that’s life. The money this place is bringing to the town is more than worth it.”

“I kinda felt guilty looking around seeing the homes of the people who still live down the road,” says Perea. “They all have anti-eminent domain signs on their lawns so this place must seem like one of the four horsemen to them. I wouldn’t want a Pier Village in my town”