Netflix at Fort Monmouth? Waiting game starts on who will buy the Mega Parcel

OCEANPORT - The public bids for Fort Monmouth's Mega Parcel, which has been rumored as possible home for Netflix, will likely go out next month. 

Officially called a Request for Offers to Purchase, the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority or FMERA, said the draft is under review now.

Robert Lucky, vice chairman of FMERA's executive board, said if the bids go out next month they will be due by Jan. 5, 2022, which means it could be several months before it is known who the purchaser is. 

The Mega Parcel was created last month by FMERA and is a 289-acre parcel located in parts of Eatontown and Oceanport. About one-third of the site was the former Parcel B, or "gateway," to the former U.S. Army base, at the main gate entrance off Route 35 in Eatontown.  

FMERA, the state agency redeveloping Fort Monmouth, tried several times to sell Parcel B as a mixed-use town center concept with homes and retail. In the last four years, it was close to a deal with two developers, but each walked away citing uncertainty in the retail marketplace.

Previously: Netflix rumored move to Fort Monmouth? Here is what Gov. Murphy has to say

In July, FMERA took Parcel B and several other developmental districts, wrapped it into one Mega Parcel, and said it will permit new uses such as film and digital, life sciences, information and high tech, clean energy and the food and beverage industry to bid on the site.    

Last month, the Two River Times, citing anonymous sources, said the streaming TV service and film production company responded to Gov. Phil Murphy's recent incentive-based sales pitch to film and entertainment industries based in Georgia to relocate to New Jersey. The story didn't say what the response was.

Murphy's pitch: Calling Georgia laws 'Jim Crow 2.0,' Phil Murphy dangles NJ tax breaks to film, TV companies

Murphy scored headlines in March when he sent a letter to major production companies, including Walt Disney Co., Warner Bros. and Netflix, asking them to consider leaving Georgia in the aftermath of the state's new voter law and film in New Jersey instead.

Along with the social issues, Murphy offered the companies competitive tax breaks as part of a $14.5 billion economic incentive package that "makes the Garden State just as competitive as Georgia to attract film and television production businesses," Murphy wrote in the letter. 

The Press spoke to Murphy since the Netflix rumors circulated and he said he had "no news on that." 

When Jersey Shore native Dan Radel is not reporting the news, you can find him in a college classroom where he is a history professor. Reach him @danielradelapp; 732-643-4072; dradel@gannettnj.com.