Marée Bistro + Bar

Marée is an independent restaurant and bar in Spring Lake, New Jersey, on the ground floor of a 125-year-old former bank building downtown. The original bank vault is now a private dining room. The name comes from the French word for “tide.”

Marilyn Schlossbach and I opened it together. Marilyn has been operating restaurants at the Jersey Shore for more than 35 years and leads the food and the culture of the room. I led the development side: the buildout, financing, technology, and the operating systems behind the restaurant. It’s a separate ownership partnership from our other hospitality projects, intentionally.

How it came together

Marée came out of a public-private partnership that worked atypically well.

The Borough of Spring Lake bought the building to create affordable housing on the upper floor, then asked residents what they wanted to see on the ground floor. A downtown bar and restaurant was at the top of the list. The Borough secured a concessionary liquor license from the State of New Jersey and put the space out to bid.

We responded to the RFP and were awarded the project. From there, we raised investor capital, financed the build through an SBA loan with Manasquan Bank, and negotiated a fifteen-year lease with multiple options behind it. That’s enough term to potentially spend the next quarter century in a building that’s already been standing for 125 years, which is a pretty unusual position for a restaurant.

Getting there meant the Borough, state licensing, private capital, and an operating team all having to come together around the same project. That doesn’t happen very often.

The menu is seasonal French coastal bistro with an emphasis on local producers, and the cocktail, wine, and beer programs follow the same idea. If you want the full story, go see the restaurant or read what people are saying.