Freehold landmark sold at auction again

BY MARK ROSMAN & CLARE MARIE CELANO
Staff Writers

PHOTOS BY JEFF GRANIT staff Steve Goldberg (r, above) talks with Freehold Borough Administrator Joseph Bellina after being named the winner of a public auction to sell the American Hotel. The interior of the landmark is full of broken glass, buckling floors and falling ceiling tiles. It has been closed since late 2003. Goldberg did not immediately reveal his plans for the building. The American Hotel, East Main Street, Freehold Borough, which for decades was a key part of the historic fabric of Freehold's main thoroughfare, was the subject of a second public bankruptcy auction on March 23.

Manalapan resident Steve Goldberg, 52, bid $2.5 million for the building and liquor license combined and was declared the winner. Goldberg is the owner of a local health-care provider business (adult day-care centers).

Goldberg's bid for the building and the liquor license combined was $200,000 more than winning bids made by Frank Pesce of New York during separate auctions on the building ($1.8 million) and the liquor license ($500,000).

The first auction of the hotel took place in October. The combined winning bid for the building and the liquor license that day was $4.35 million by Tran Dinh Truong, a New York hotel owner.

Municipal officials were notified in Feb-ruary that Truong could not complete the purchase and that neither could Pesce, who had the second highest bid.

However, Pesce, who is in the retail food business, returned last week to bid again. He said he wanted to turn the building - which had not operated as a hotel for years, but was a hub of banquet activity - into a restaurant.

Instead, the Freehold landmark appears to have passed into the hands of Goldberg at a much lower cost than Truong's winning combined bid of five months ago.

The auction was once again run by David R. Maltz and Co. of New York. Bankruptcy trustee David Doyaga Sr. represented the former owner of the hotel property, Hoti Inc.

The building has been closed since late 2003. The interior of the hotel is cold - power was cut off long ago - and the floors are covered with shards of broken glass and ceiling tiles that have fallen down. A fire in 2005 damaged an upstairs portion of the building.

JEFF GRANIT staff Frank Pesce (with sunglasses) was among a small group of people who offered bids on the American Hotel, Freehold Borough, during a public auction March 23. Pesce was not successful in his attempt to buy the building or its liquor license. People who inspected the upper floors of the building prior to the auction said the condition of those floors is horrendous.

The auction was conducted outside the back entrance of the building on the edge of the Market Yard parking lot. Under sunny skies, a group of onlookers - including municipal officials - watched as only a few people took part in the auction. Bids on the building and liquor license combined, as well as on the building and liquor license separately, advanced in $100,000 increments.

The first auction was for the building and liquor license together and Goldberg's winning bid of $2.5 million - which was reached in a matter of minutes after bidding started at $1.7 million - won him the right to try to breathe new life into the Freehold landmark.

In fact, he looked a bit overwhelmed by the fact that he had actually purchased what borough officials have called the "gem" and "linchpin" of Main Street.

Goldberg said he remembers going to the American Hotel as a child with his father, Sy. In the moments following the auction, Goldberg said he was not ready to discuss his plans for the building, but did tell Mayor Michael Wilson he is looking forward to working with him.

Borough officials are hoping Goldberg will be able to restore a building that many people remember fondly for their own personal reasons.

Borough Attorney Kerry Higgins, Borough Administrator Joseph Bellina and Freehold Center Partnership Executive Director Jayne Carr introduced themselves to Goldberg and expressed a desire to meet with him to discuss his plans for the building.

Borough Councilman Kevin Coyne, who is the town's historian, said he thinks the second auction is "better than the last one.

"I think it's a good beginning," Coyne said. "We only hope that he (Goldberg) understands the role the hotel plays in the history of our downtown area and that he restores it to its former role in our town."