Holmdel forming Lucent task force Residents offer suggestions for tract's future at hearing BY KAREN E. BOWES Staff Writer JEFF GRANIT staff Holmdel's township planner said last week that it was unrealistic to expect any new tenant could reuse the Bell Labs research complex, Crawfords Corner Road, because of its specialized nature. A golf course, a disaster recovery site and a college campus were some of the creative suggestions from Holmdel residents for the future of the Lucent property at Thursday's special Township Committee meeting. Approximately 250 residents packed into the Senior Center building on Crawfords Corner Road, with about 35 airing their concerns about property owners Preferred Real Estate Investments' interest in building 250-300 houses on the 470-acre site. Although the company sent two representatives to the meeting, they chose to stand in the very back of the room and not be identified. On hand at the front of the room were several township professionals, the mayor and committee, all of whom offered their input on the topic. It was also announced that a special task force on the development of Lucent would be formed with former Planning Board Chairman Ralph Blumenthal to head the group. Volunteers are currently being sought to fill the new task force. Blumenthal's wife, Jenni, is also highly interested in the future of Lucent. The first resident to speak at the meeting, she presented to the mayor a petition signed by over 650 residents asking that Holmdel keep the zoning the same and not allow for housing. "Pretty much everyone is not happy," Blumenthal said. In her short, prepared speech, Blumenthal said she has written to the CEO of Preferred three times on behalf of Citizens for Informed Land Use (CILU), a grassroots citizens group that favors preserving the Lucent tract from housing development. She received a loud round of applause for her statements. Mary Ann Neergard, the township's special tax attorney for the last 15 years, called the tract "the largest land in Monmouth County available for development." According to Neergard, at its peak in 1992, the property earned the town $4.9 million in taxes. Presently, the site generates about $1 million in taxes, she said. Russell Sterling, the township's real estate appraiser, urged the importance of finding a replacement for the large ratable. "I look at this from a tax assessment point of view," Sterling told the crowd. "The most viable option is some sort of mixed-use, including residential housing." Sterling said it will cost at least $20 million to demolish the structure, a huge up-front cost for any developer. "This town is known for its technology," Sterling said. "Well, technology has come back to bite you." Sterling admitted it was a hard pill to swallow, but residents must be aware that developers can afford to be choosy. "They can just as soon open up an office in India," Sterling said. Paul Phillips, the township planner, outlined a broad list of objectives for the site, generally, to maintain the overall character of the pastoral property by limiting development to the oval where the main research buildings are presently located. With over 2 million square feet of laboratory space, Phillips said the site "is currently maxed out," meaning current zoning does not allow for any additional office space. However, he warned, that doesn't mean a new company could easily move in where Lucent left off. "The prospects for actually reusing the Lucent building are poor," Phillips said. "It's a massive structure. It was built in the specifications of a particular user, tailored to specific needs." "There are a series of concrete-walled cubicles along the inner atrium, which were basically designed essential for research and science, not for office workers," Phillips continued. "There are other components, like blast-proof walls, which put us at a competitive disadvantage. ... Also, major corporations are consolidating, they're not expanding." Phillips added that any notion of replacing the Lucent with a single-user occupant "is probably not realistic." Instead, the planner said that a portion of the current building could be reused, or else it could be completely demolished. "My understanding is that it doesn't have any protective status," Phillips said. This was not good news for architecture fans, several of whom spoke on the historic nature of the circa 1960s building. The mirror-lined building was designed by Finnish architect Eero Saarinen, the famed designer of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.