How iStar and Madison Marquette Silenced Asbury Park

This is the story of how an international private equity firm worth billions of dollars silenced an entire small city.  It is a masterclass in how corporate interests can manipulate a small community.  It should be required reading for people studying for their master’s degree in business and public administration.

The antagonist in this tragic but true play is the developers of Asbury Park, NJ’s waterfront, the business and social engine of the greater area.  The developers are  several companies, but they formed a joint venture, so what applies to one applies to all. They are a combination of real estate and banking interests, with layers upon layers of corporations and LLCs to make tracking them difficult.

They are Madison Marquette (aka Capital Guidance, aka Avison Young).  They are iStar Inc. (aka, Safehold, aka Starfield).   Publicly disclosed assets and valuations put them well north of $10 billion; the full scale is opaque because Capital Guidance is a Swiss private equity firm not listed on any world exchange.  They operate in 8 business sectors across the globe and they are enormous.  For ease of reference, let’s just call them all “the Developers.”

Our lovable but unsuspecting protagonist in this play are the people of Asbury Park.

A known rule for developers  of large public projects is “control the narrative.”   It’s normal for developers to be persuasive, so the loudest voices in town cheer for them.  What the Developers in Asbury Park did was different:  They came here with muzzles.  They don’t want cheers; they want silence.  Here is how they muzzled Asbury Park’s most important political and social voices.   These voices can’t protest that the Developers breached their contract with the City and are letting our historical buildings rot, because they are beholden to them.

NOTE WELL FIRST: I am NOT criticizing the following people for their silence about the developers destroying Asbury Park’s historical buildings, which they were hired to save.  This is not an attempt to shame or embarrass them.  It’s the exact opposite.  I know and love many of them. These people are victims too.  I see them as hostages, wishing they could speak up.  Some have a sad Stockholm syndrome – forced to compliment their captors.  No, this is not a criticism of any of you.  It is a recognition of your position, and I’m aware that the Developers snuck up on you like a slow and silent cancer.  I want you cured; I want you freed.

Let’s look at important groups who are silenced:

THE ARTISTS: 

In other cities, the artists would be the tip of the spear in fighting off private equity destroying history and beauty.  If Banksy were here, our City would be covered in protest art, and for the first time in my life, I’d cheer for graffiti.

In Asbury Park, the Art community has been corporatized by the Developers.  We have the Wooden Walls Project that coordinates public art in Asbury.  I support them – I donate money to them. So does government.  But their prominent benefactor is the Developers, who uses them for “Artwashing.” 

Artwashing is when a company uses art to cover unethical behavior.  The developers hire Wooden Walls to cover dilapidated buildings they are supposed to be saving. People take selfies in from of the murals, instead of cursing about the disintegrating historical buildings behind them.  The Developers privately laugh at us.

I am quite fond of the head of Wooden Walls.  She does enormous good. She was an outspoken voice against other firms trying to demolish the former Holy Spirit Church in Asbury Park.  But the waterfront Developer is both her benefactor and her landlord, so she must stay silent as to them. I suspect it’s killing her inside. 

There are two other important artists in Asbury Park.  One of them each year makes Madison Marquette their cardboard Giving Tree that replaced the traditional Christmas tree in Convention Hall.  He can’t speak out against them.  The other bills himself as Asbury Park’s “artist in residence.”  His work is all over Asbury.  The Developers are his landlord.  He’s muzzled.    All artists who have painted beautiful murals, all stay silent.

The MUSICIANS

A common phrase here is “Music saved Asbury Park.”  Not anymore.  You’ve heard of Sea Hear Now?  Their landlord is the Developer.  They depend on coordination with them for their concerts.  Can you imagine the voice they would have if they spoke on this?  Can I get a Woody Guthrie sounding protest tune for Asbury?  I shudder when at Sea Hear Now I hear an act belt a protest tune, while at any moment the mere vibrations from their speakers threaten to knock Convention Hall into the Atlantic because the private equity Developer defaulted on repairing it.

I feel bad for a guitar player you may have heard on the radio named Bruce Springsteen. I love his music; he’s the best lyricist for the human condition in my lifetime, and Asbury Park is his muse.  Whenever there is an issue in Asbury, people say “Why doesn’t Bruce fix it?” In truth, Bruce does lots of charitable giving here and to his credit he doesn’t brag.

But Bruce doesn’t owe us this repair.  A private equity firm worth billions of dollars more than him signed a contract to fix Asbury Park’s Convention Hall and Casino.  They owe the repair.

However,  Bruce is no stranger to at least lending his voice to causes.  You may have seen him on the news. Why won’t he just speak out against the destruction of the Asbury symbols he immortalized in song?  Here’s why:  Bruce uses Convention Hall for practice sessions before tours, and you know how he likes to jump on stage with bands at the  Stone Pony.  The Developers own both. He has a relationship with them.

Yes the Developers own both the Stone Pony and the Wonder Bar.  I adore the women who run both.  They are extremely important voices in Asbury Park.  But they can’t complain of the crumbling Convention Hall and Casino, because the Developer is their landlord.   Muzzled. Imagine if they could speak.

Then there is the Asbury Park Music Foundation, a terrific charitable organization that brings music to people all over, especially kids.  Who gives money to them?  iStar.  Who owns property where they host concerts? Madison Marquette.  Muzzled.

What about individual musicians and bands?  What about local music promotors? The Developers bought every music venue in Asbury.  I can’t blame them for not speaking up or holding awareness-raising concerts.  They all must make a living.  I feel for them.

The CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

As in any town, this is a powerful group, and it’s no secret that in Asbury  Park the board of trustees at the Chamber has been taken over by Madison Marquette and iStar.  Go look at their masthead.

The Developer is so in control of the Chamber that 3 years ago they voted to give the local head of Madison Marquette their “Visionary Award” complete with a huge ceremony.  Good grief.   What an extraordinary  psyop. 

There goes my chance of ever winning one of their coveted Carousel Awards for community activism.   That typically goes to people connected to the Developer each year.

Some of the most prominent voices in Asbury Park are those who own businesses on the boardwalk.  The Developer is landlord to every one of them.  They muzzled them all.

The MEDIA

The only daily paper in two counties (Monmouth/Ocean), which has a population the size of Boston and D.C. combined, is the Asbury Park Press.  It is owned by the massive Gannett.  Gannett funds the Press like it’s on hospice.  It’s small. That’s dangerous.

Do you know the Asbury Park Press has NEVER done an extensive report on Capital Guidance, the huge, international Swiss company that owns all the beachfront buildings?  Are they not curious about who we are in bed with?  In 2020 they fired the opinion editor and scaled back the opinion section to something unnoticeable.  So they don’t even complain. Let’s dive deeper.

For 12 years the Publisher at The AP Press was Tom Donovan, who coincidentally arrived here the same year as Madison Marquette, in 2007.

Printing nary a bad word about the Developers, I scratched my head while Donovan would rent the Stone Pony for his own parties.  He was doing business with the very people his paper was supposed to be monitoring and investigating.

When Donovan retired he took a job with the Asbury Park Music Foundation -  a company heavily funded by the Developer.  This is the kind of story the Press should be covering!  But I bet you’re hearing it for the first time here.

Side note:  The current Asbury Park Press beat reporter is doing his best, but in my estimation the Press underbudgets his work.  Can they at least pay the guy to come to council meetings like the old days?

That brings us to the triCityNews.  It’s the progressive, insightful arts and entertainment weekly that does more politics than art or entertainment.

Full disclosure:  The publisher of triCityNews is a friend of mine, and I couldn’t admire him more.  I even wrote a weekly column for his paper years back.  They say success has many fathers, and many claim to have turned Asbury Park around: The LGBTQ+ community, the music industry, the artists, the business operators, etc.

They all certainly did help.  But I’m here to testify that no one spread the word of Asbury Park’s turn-around, no one is more responsible for a great deal of its reputational resurgence, than triCityNews.

But something happened about 6 years ago.  Madison Marquette stopped commenting to all media.  Print, digital, TV, radio -  they give only a “no comment.”  Madison Marquette occasionally issues a press release through triCityNews, and all the other media are expected to report on what they read in triCity, and they do.  That way the Developers shield themselves from questions. That’s how Madison Marquette tamed the media.

Also for about 6 years, the triCityNew’s publisher has never printed a discouraging word about Madison Marquette.  They never print anyone else on that either, not even a letter to the editor.  A “progressive little paper” that fronts for an international private equity firm?

For this I have renamed the triCityNews “the Madison Marquette Gazette.”  You should too until he prints a criticism of the Developer.

The other weekly paper in Asbury Park is The Coaster. I love it.  It’s important. But it’s the kind of paper you read to find out who made Eagle Scout this week.  They aren’t budgeted for deep dives into the vagaries of the Developer.  So we get none.

Is any media doing good work in Asbury?  Yes – News 12 New Jersey. When an issue drops about the Developer they are here reporting on it.  But I’d like to see them invest in some investigative work about the Developer, not just reacting to events.

The HISTORICAL SOCIETY!

This one hurts. The head of the Asbuty Park Historical Society is a tenant of the Developer. To her credit, I've seen her speak out, but very gingerly, mostly with questions. Who could blame her?

The CHARITIES

According to an AI assisted search, there are 373 non-profits in this little more than a mile square City.  The Developers don’t give to all of them.  They give to the most visible. They give to the ones they know are run by prominent voices.  They give just enough so these voices never criticize them, for fear of losing donations.

The CITY COUNCIL:  “We cannot comment because there COULD BE litigation.”   Applesauce.  I can see you not commenting when there IS litigation.  When you are a City in the middle of a 45-year-old redevelopment plan, there always “could be” litigation at any time.  Does that mean you will never comment?  “Transparency” just put on its hat and coat and left.  You need to start talking about the Developer’s default and sue them for breach.

SOMETHING NEW IS HAPPENING:  With the news that the Developer applied to knock down the Casino grand concourse, a grass roots uprising took place like Asbury Park has never seen.  7,500 people signed a petition to save the Casino (that equals half the population).

On Wednesday, February 18, the City is hosting an informational at the high school where the redevelopment attorney will update the community on the Waterfront.

If you signed that petition, please go.  If you didn’t sign it please go.  Remember what you read above -  all the usual outspoken voices can’t speak up there.  Don’t take if for granted that your view will be heard. The “usuals” are muzzled. You must go.  You must place your dissatisfaction with the Developer on the record.  Tell them the City can take back the Casino.  Click this link to learn how.

Final Note:  I’m not alleging anything untoward.  I’m not alleging bribes, kickbacks, payoffs or any other corruption. 

I am telling you that the Developers are playing 3-level chess on our checkerboard, and we must smarten up.