Big Bang Horn Antenna will not be removed, Holmdel developer swears

HOLMDEL - A developer says there are no plans to get rid of the Horn Antenna, an 18-ton piece of scientific history crucial to providing evidence for the Big Bang theory. But it might be moved to a different spot on the property if it gets filled up with 88 townhouses as planned.

Owner Crawford Hill Holding and contract purchaser Burke Contracting LLC have argued that it is their intention to keep the Horn Antenna on its site at 791 Holmdel Road, while a coalition of advocacy groups have spoken against further development around the landmark.

In several concept plans submitted by the developer to the township, the Horn Antenna is present in all but one map. In the first two plans dated January and April 2022, the antenna sits in its current location among proposed townhouses. In the third plan dated November 2022, the Horn Antenna is no longer present on the proposal.

It reappears in the February and March 2023 plans alongside a proposed museum building on the northwest corner of the concept plan.

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According to Crawford Hill Holding spokesman Thom Ammirato, the November 2022 concept plan removed the Horn Antenna at the request of the township.

"We (had) never, ever, ever — I can't say this enough — never proposed moving the antenna," Ammirato said. "That's a total fictitious thing (that was) made up."

Holmdel Mayor DJ Luccarelli said, "While I did not handle negotiations in November 2022, it is my understanding that a concept plan was submitted in the context of the Horn Antenna being preserved at an alternate Holmdel location, such as Bell Works. As mayor this year, it is my goal to preserve the Horn Antenna in its current location on Crawford Hill."

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The Horn Antenna was part of the old AT&T monopoly that dominated the township for decades with pioneering achievements in communications and other scientific areas.

AT&T constructed two buildings in the 1960s: the 2-million-square-foot Bell Labs facility that was designed by the renowned architect Eero Saarinen and which today is an office complex known as Bell Works; and an annex three miles away that was home to the Horn Antenna, built to support Project Echo, in which communication signals were bounced off of a satellite.

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In 1964, radio astronomers Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson were using the Horn Antenna for research when they heard a background noise that was getting in the way of their observations.

They concluded after several months that it was caused by cosmic microwave background radiation from outside of the galaxy, helping confirm the Big Bang theory that the universe was created by a cataclysmic explosion.

Penzias and Wilson received the 1978 Nobel Prize for Physics for the discovery. The Horn Antenna was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1989.

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An October 2022 cover letter by Burke Construction cites a planning memo by Cafone Consulting Group that stated that the pandemic changed the demand for office real estate, including the old annex near the antenna, and that the buildings on site suffer "from obsolescence, dilapidation, disrepair, vacancy and faulty design arrangement."

It states that police reports have indicated instances of burglary and vandalism on the property.

Its conceptional redevelopment plan states "to preserve (the) historical significance of the antennas and equipment located on Crawford Hill Observatory, it is anticipated that the Horn Antenna will be relocated to the Bell Works or any other suitable site."

Holmdel Township recently filed a complaint in state Superior Court seeking a judgment as to who owns the Horn Antenna — the current property owner, Crawford Hill Holding LLC, Burke Contracting LLC or Nokia of America Corp., which sold the property to Crawford Hill.

The township cited language in the $3.6 million sales contract that seemed to indicate that moving the Horn Antenna from its current location "would require a new application to have the new site designated as a historical site."

Ammirato said Crawford Hill Holding owns the Horn Antenna and the developer "will answer appropriately in court in the time prescribed by law."

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In December 2022, the land on which the Horn Antenna sits was approved by the planning board for a redevelopment plan. The land is currently zoned RL-40 or "Research Laboratory."

Julie Roth, president of Citizens for Informed Land Use, a Holmdel group that advocates for open space, said she was shocked to see the townhouses being proposed on the site that was not zoned for residential development.

She said, "(The township) recently approved an increase in our open space tax. … Plus, the amount of signatures we’ve obtained on the petition … It shows that the residents are in favor of preserving the site and really create an open space, a park that can be accessed by everyone, appreciated by everyone, not just in the town, but the community at large."

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Ammirato called the development a straightforward project and said Crawford Hill Holding owner Rakesh Antala has "a lot of respect for the antenna."

He said the 88 senior townhouses, which would all be market-rate units, would be unobtrusive and leave more than a third of the property as green space.

"I don't think there's any danger of losing the historic significance," Ammirato said about moving the antenna from its current location to the northwest corner of the proposed neighborhood. "The antenna is what's historically significant, the hill it sits on is not. The hill is a hill."

Ammirato cited the movement of Lucy the Elephant in Atlantic City as evidence that landmarks can be moved and still receive a National Historic Landmark designation.

Lucy was moved to a new location in 1974, two years before receiving a National Historic Landmark designation, according to its website.

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Kin Gee, a Holmdel resident who is part of the coalition advocating to turn the property into a park, countered that argument, saying, "If you move the Plymouth Rock away from where that is, it's no longer the Plymouth Rock. … It's just a rock."

Gee said moving "a structure that's over 60 years old and over 18 tons is risky."

He said, "From Holmdel's perspective and scientists from around the world, we believe that the best use of that property is to save the Horn Antenna at its current location and to preserve the property as a historic public park."

Ammirato said there has been a rush to judgment that he said has "become political." He said the developer is nowhere near the stage of presenting its final plans in front of a land use board.

Politicians from both political parties have weighed in, with state Assembly members Gerry Scharfenberger and Victoria Flynn, both R-Monmouth, voicing their concerns about more development, State Sen. Declan O’Scanlon, R-Monmouth, supporting preserving the Horn Antenna and U.S. Rep. Andy Kim, D-N.J., requesting $4 million in federal money to purchase the property.

Olivia Liu is a reporter covering transportation, Red Bank and western Monmouth County. She can be reached at [email protected].