FREEHOLD – Municipal officials in Freehold Borough are moving forward with a plan to purchase a building on Mechanic Street for use as a new Borough Hall, police department headquarters and municipal court.
On April 6, Borough Council members introduced an ordinance that will, if adopted, authorize the purchase of a building at 30 Mechanic St.
The building is currently used by the Monmouth County Probation Department for child support services. The building would be purchased by Freehold Borough for $3.33 million, according to the ordinance.
A public hearing on the ordinance is scheduled for April 20. The council members may adopt the ordinance that evening.
According to the ordinance, officials are planning to use the building on Mechanic Street as Borough Hall, the headquarters of the Freehold Borough Police Department and the municipal court.
At present, Borough Hall is on West Main Street and the police department and municipal court are on Jackson Street.
Discussions regarding moving Borough Hall from its location on West Main Street date back to 2017 when the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA) presented a draft concept for a transit village around the Freehold bus station at the corner of West Main and Throckmorton streets, near Borough Hall.
In 2018, a partnership of business owners and property owners in the borough, known as KFM Partnership, LLC, recommended moving the municipal building to a new location.
They believed moving Borough Hall would open up property around the bus station and provide an opportunity to generate revenue for the borough by creating additional space for a developer who might bid on the NJTPA’s plans proposed for the bus station.
