A ten-unit condominium building in Lavallette has received approval to be rebuilt after a fire devastated the structure just before Memorial Day weekend in 2017.
The Jay Bea Condominium Association, located at 1806 Grand Central Avenue (at the corner of New Jersey Avenue) received planning board approval to rebuild at a recent meeting. A resolution adopted by the planning board allows the owners to reconstruct the condominium complex for ten apartment units.
According to planning board documents, the current first story will be maintained for storage and new second and third stories will be constructed on top of the first floor for to serve as housing units. The board approved conditional use variances for the building, since it is located off Route 35, and minor “bulk” variances that mainly were pre-existing.
A fire swept through the building overnight between May 24-25, 2016.
Al Della Fave, spokesman for the Ocean County prosecutor’s office at the time, said an investigation determined that the area of the fire’s origin was on the exterior of the south side of the structure, along a balcony style walkway on the second floor.
The point of origin was on top of outdoor carpeting that lined the floor of the walkway in between units seven and eight, he said. The cause of the fire is deemed accidental “and improperly discarded smoking material cannot be eliminated as the cause of the fire.”