BRICK – For the second time in about two years, the property that was once owned by Brick’s only Jewish house of worship has been sold.
Temple Beth Or, who ran the synagogue for decades, sold the property in March 2021 because the buildings and grounds on the 4.6-acre parcel at the corner of Van Zile Road and Hendrickson Avenue had become too big for the shrinking congregation.
The new owners, David Gluck and the Congregation Kehilos Yisroel, who have a Madison Avenue address in Lakewood, paid $3.6 million.
The new owners proceeded to operate an illegal high school for boys on the site without obtaining township permits or safety inspections and was shut down by the county.
At the time, attorneys for Congregation Kehilos Yisroel argued that a change of use approval was not needed since religious classes had been taught there in the past, but Brick officials maintained that it was a house of worship.
Gluck also purchased two homes in the area, located at 91 Hendrickson Avenue and 226 Van Zile Road, that were allegedly being used as dorms for the students. The homes have since been sold.
Since September 2021, there has been no activity at the site of the former temple, and no applications could have moved forward since there was no money in their escrow account, said then-Mayor John Ducey.
In November 2022, Gluck proposed that the property could be used as a library and learning center, but no applications were ever filed with the township’s Planning Board.
On December 30, 2022 the property was sold again for $4.5 million, this time to Congregation Anshei Brick Inc., a self-described “non-profit entity,” located at 311 Blvd. of the Americas, suite 101 in Lakewood, an address listed as the office of Bar Law Group and SO Investments LLC, C/O Bar Law Group.
The law practice includes attorneys Jeffrey Rabinovich, Anne Miriam Blumenfrucht and Jeffrey Gold. Plans for the property are unclear since attempts by this newspaper to speak to someone at the law practice were unsuccessful, and our email was not answered.
Asked about the future of the site, Brick Township Business Administrator Joanne Bergin said she has no information on the sale. Township Planner Tara Paxton said the township has no oversight or involvement over private land sales.
“The only office that does is the tax assessor – but they only get notified once it hits the County Clerk for the filing of the deed,” Paxton said in an email. “That is the only information we would be privy to.”
A call to the Ocean County Clerk did not uncover any additional details about the new owners.
Meanwhile, Brick’s Conservative Congregation, Temple Beth Or, the property’s original owner, has found and has moved into a smaller building at 135 Salmon Street, the site of the former Laurelton Funeral Home, located next to St. Thomas Lutheran Church.
Synagogue officials said that the site is more in line with the space they need for their 87-member congregation.
