Developer Closes Asbury Park Boardwalk Underneath Aging Casino

ASBURY PARK, NJ — Those planning to stroll the boardwalk in Asbury Park this spring will be in for quite a surprise:

The city of Asbury Park announced Monday morning the developer is temporarily closing the stretch of boardwalk that runs underneath the aging Asbury Park casino. A novelty of visiting Asbury Park was being able to walk under the old casino, built in the 1920s and which has since fallen into disrepair.

This was a decision made by Madison Marquette, the private developer that owns the iconic Asbury Park casino. They called it "difficult" and said the decision was made after inspecting the casino arcade, and found issues.

The city declined to say what those specific issues are.

The city of Asbury Park said it is just relaying the message from the developer that the boardwalk under the casino will be closed.

"After a scheduled inspection of the Casino building arcade, we have made the difficult decision to close that pass-through temporarily," announced the city of Asbury Park Monday morning, May 8. "At the moment, access between Asbury Park and Ocean Grove will be along the Wesley Lake promenade and the Wesley Lake bridge. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience to the community and our visitors, and will be providing additional information shortly. For questions, call 732-897-6500."

The Asbury Park casino building is an iconic Beaux Arts building, built in Asbury Park's heyday in the 1920s as a family seaside resort town. However, in recent decades the Asbury Park casino and signature carousel building have fallen into disrepair and decay.

The city of Asbury Park has been engaged in a prolonged feud with Madison Marquette: In January, Asbury Park issued multiple default notices to the developer for failing to meet its obligations in developing and maintaining the casino property.

Asbury Park says Madison Marquette is failing to uphold agreements it made with the city in 2004 and 2010 to preserve the historic building.