OCEANPORT, N.J. — The state authority redeveloping Fort Monmouth will pay the U.S. Army $33 million for the remaining parcels on the Main Post, under an agreement still pending final approval, according to officials.
No date has yet been set for the two parties to complete the deal.
The transfer of the Main Post parcels from the Army was once targeted for Dec. 31, 2015. It was then pushed to June 30. Now, officials with the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority are considering the end of summer or early fall.
They blame financial loose ends and environmental remediation issues as the main hold ups.
"There's no doubt in my mind now we're going to get there. It's either going to be August, September or October," said Bruce Steadman, the authority's executive director.
Steadman said the biggest hurdle has been getting an executable Memorandum of Agreement between the authority and the Army. He said both parties approved an agreement in late April that had been in works for some time.
According to the agreement, the authority will buy the land for $33 million, a purchase price negotiated in 2014. The board is looking to borrow the money from the Monmouth County Improvement Authority, something it wants to nail down before Labor Day.
"We are looking to get all the necessary approvals in place by August," said David Nuse, the authority's deputy executive director.
It anticipates paying down approximately $10 million of that debt within a year of the transfer through the sale of three parcels of land on the Main Post.
The agreement also calls for the Army to retain all statutory environmental responsibilities on the Main Post.
Fort Monmouth is divided into two sections: the Main Post, acquired in 1917, and the Charles Wood section, added in 1941. The Army shuttered the fort in 2011.
The fort's redevelopment plan, designed in 2008, called for two phases: Phase I, including Charles Wood and three parcels on the Main Post; and Phase II, encompassing the remainder of the Main Post.
In Phase, I the U.S. Army sold the Charles Wood section and three parcels on the Main Post to the redevelopment authority for $1. Under this agreement, however, the Army receives 60 percent of the sale price of each parcel sold.
In Phase II, the U.S. Army would sell FMERA the property outright.
Dan Radel: 732-643-4072; dradel@gannettnj.com
