Asbury Park is a seaside city in northern New Jersey, a small but densely packed part of the coastline. Situated in the Citya��s southwest quadrant, Asbury Parka��s West Side is a neighborhood with challenges and opportunities. The neighborhood was hard hit by the race riots of the early 1970s, the economic downturn of the 1990s, and the housing crisis of the 2000s. Even as the citya��s prosperous East Side attracted an unprecedented amount of new investment in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the West Side neighborhood continues to struggle. The main commercial corridor, Springwood Avenue, is dominated by vacant lots, despite the fact that it is only a five-minute walk from Cookman Ave, the East Sidea��s vibrant main street.

Although the West Sidea��s growth is far outpaced by the growth of the East Side, new developments are beginning to materialize. The Springwood Avenue corridor is on the brink of revitalization, with almost all of its currently vacant parcels slated for near-term investments. The Springwood Center, the first new mixed-use facility to be built on Springwood Avenue in 30 years, is complete. Springwood Park opened in summer 2016, and two new mixed-income rental developments are poised to break ground in the next year.