Middletown Revives Plans To Make Belford A Seaside Village

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — Middletown is returning to a long-discussed idea to turn Belford into a touristy seaside village, similar to Manhattan's South Street Seaport or the Tuckerton Seaport.

For the past 10 years now, the Township has been discussing redeveloping the Belford area, said Mayor Tony Perry.

However, the entire project was tabled during the pandemic. Then this past September the Township Committee approved an amendment to its Port Belford redevelopment plan, putting Belford redevelopment back on its radar.

You can read the entire Port Belford Redevelopment Plan here to see exactly what the Township imagines.

What Middletown envisions are boutique shops and restaurants along the water, plus a historical maritime museum to tell the rich fishing/clamming history of Raritan Bay and the Bayshore.

There will be a residential housing component to any Belford redevelopment plans: Woodmont Properties is the designated redeveloper and they would build multi-use commercial/residential, said Perry. Woodmont plans to build a parking garage on top of the existing outdoor parking lot for the Seastreak ferry. The housing was already approved under the existing redevelopment plan.

Middletown also envisions possibly an amphitheater there, too.

Any proposal or new development at Belford is several years away and would have to go through county, state and possibly even federal EPA approval as the land is directly on the Raritan Bay.

Currently in Belford, there exists Ross Brewing, Belford Brewing Company, Belford Seafood Co-op, the Dunes condo complex and the Seastreak ferry, which provides direct ferry service into Lower Manhattan.