Channel Club Tower: Shrewsbury’s Sentinel

by Greg Kelly · Published January 1, 2022 · Updated January 6, 2022

CCT

The Channel Club Tower, a private high-rise condominium, is quite photogenic — lording over the Shrewsbury River marina front in Monmouth Beach. I grew up literally in the shadow of the building and watched as the tower and a massive steel and concrete auto garage filled the large riverfront acreage we Kelly kids once called “the woods.”

At 18-stories high and 222-units wide, it’s the borough’s largest housing facility. The ambitious project came from the vision of Walter Mihm, who developed the area into a marine empire of considerable scale. The CCT architect was Harold Kent and Kendall Development Co. was the builder (and a co-partner with Mihm). The total construction cost was about $14 million.

In 1972, together with partner American Standard, Walter purchased a 7-acre parcel of land off West Street and built the Channel Club Tower. Walter was also responsible for the Channel Club and the Channel Club marina. And he built the adjoining private street, Channel Drive. Part of the property off West Street had once held a massive 25-room summer home owned by officers of the Salvation Army, which held title to a much of the surrounding land.

The tower (towers, really) came about as a means to boost town ratables — then badly needed to help fund a new school. In 1970, the borough commissioners approved an ordinance to permit the construction of high-rise dwellings in town; two years later the ordinance was rescinded.

When the CCT opened a sales office in April 1973, the average price for an apartment was $51,000, the average monthly maintenance fee was $115 and a penthouse cost $95,000. All units had terraces with water views. Locals remember the place for its 24-hour doorman, pool, health club, and massive parking garage.

Here are some images of the CCT and area through the years:

Channel Club Tower area, Sept. 2021 (Frank Snead Photo).

MB resident and developer Walter Mihm looks over early construction of the Channel Club Tower when ground was broken in June 1973. An Asbury Park Press profile called him a “6-foot-4, powerful looking man.”

Channel Club Tower, 2021.

Channel Club Tower 18th floor penthouse view, looking north, June 2021.

MB looking east from the CCT to the ocean, 2000s.

Channel Club Tower, 2010s.

Channel Club Tower and marina, 2017. (Frank E. Snead Photo).

Fireworks seen from the Channel Club Tower, 2019.

Channel Club Tower, 1970s.

Shrewsbury River marina, 1960s. Property area before tower construction.

Ice skaters on the Shrewsbury River with the CCT as a ghostly backdrop, 1970s.

Channel Club Tower under construction, 1972.

Channel Club Tower under construction, November 1973.

Map shows the Salvation Army owned much of land along the borough’s north river shore. Land encompassing the Channel Club Tower, several marinas, and private homes — all the way to the river, Plat Book of Monmouth County, 1941. The property was sold in 1951.