Middletown Proposes Land Swap With LLCs Linked to Mayor's Campaign Donors
Middletown is considering a land swap involving township property and an $8 million payment to acquire 83 acres along Chapel Hill Road.
The Middletown Township Committee is scheduled to hold a public hearing September 8 on a proposed land transaction that would exchange township-owned property and $8 million for 83 acres along Chapel Hill Road and Kings Highway East.1
The deal, introduced by ordinance on August 17, involves property owned by two LLCs formed in October 2024. Public business records reviewed for this article connect those LLCs through a shared registered agent and address to two companies that contributed to Mayor Tony Perry’s 2024 reelection campaign the day after the LLCs were registered.
The proposed transaction also resembles a land swap described nearly three years earlier in a sworn certification filed in separate litigation against the township. In that certification, developer Seth Gerszberg alleged that Perry told him in August 2023 that he planned to make a deal in which the Montecalvo family would purchase the property and trade it to Middletown for township-owned land.2
The Township Committee introduced the ordinance without discussion. Full text of the ordinances is available in the Township public notices. Public comment and possible final action are scheduled for September 8 at 7 p.m.
The proposed land swap
Under Ordinance 2026-3531, Middletown would acquire Block 832, Lots 92, 92Q and 93, collectively referred to in the ordinance as the “CHF Property.”
In exchange, Middletown would transfer Block 835, Lot 18 and pay $8 million for the CHF Property.3
The CHF Property consists of approximately 83 acres along Chapel Hill Road and Kings Highway East, including 320 Chapel Hill Road and 266-286 Chapel Hill Road. The ordinance describes it as “the largest remaining property with significant development potential within the Township.”4
In 2014, private school Trinity Hall announced plans to develop a campus on the property. After an initial rejection, the school received Planning Board approval before abandoning the location in favor of Fort Monmouth.
The approximately 67-acre property Middletown would transfer, Block 835, Lot 18, is undeveloped land assembled by the township over more than 20 years. According to the ordinance, it is outside a sewer service area and has limited development potential because of environmental constraints. The property would remain subject to deed restrictions constraining future development and preserving environmental resources after its transfer.5
Middletown says it intends to use the property it receives for public recreation and open-space preservation. The Township Committee determined that the township property and cash consideration would be “substantially equal or greater in value” and that acquiring the CHF Property would be more advantageous for public open-space and recreation use.6
$8 million cash payment
The ordinance says Middletown anticipates receiving approximately $4.5 million from Monmouth County toward the $8 million payment. Last year, Middletown acquired the former Mater Dei High School property for $11.75 million, with 75% funded by county open-space funds.
The ordinance also refers to an additional $1 million contribution to Middletown’s Open Space Trust Fund. The ordinance does not identify the source of the $1 million contribution, and the public records reviewed for this article did not identify its source.7
How the properties changed hands
Middletown acquired Block 835, Lot 18 following a prolonged legal dispute involving the former property owner’s estate.
The township introduced an ordinance to begin eminent-domain proceedings in November 2023. Documents at the time included an appraisal valuing the property at $820,000. Property records later reflected a $900,000 purchase price in March 2025 and a November 2025 court order fixing compensation at $1.1 million.
The Chapel Hill properties were privately acquired in 2024 and 2025.
Property records list Recycling Technology Development LLC in notices of sale for Block 832, Lots 92 and 93 in July 2024. Chapel Hill Farm I LLC and Chapel Hill Farm II LLC subsequently appeared in notices of sale for the two properties in October 2024.
Deeds recorded in January 2025 reflect a $4.5 million purchase price for Lot 92 and a $6.8 million purchase price for Lot 93.
The Farm at Whipporwill LLC, which owns property bordering Block 835, Lot 18, is also a party to the proposed transaction. The ordinance identifies Middletown, Chapel Hill Farm I and II, and Farm at Whipporwill as parties to the proposed purchase and sale agreement.8
Public business records reviewed for this article list the same registered agent and address for Recycling Technology Development LLC, Chapel Hill Farm I LLC, Chapel Hill Farm II LLC and The Farm at Whipporwill LLC. The registered agent, Valerie Montecalvo, is president of Bayshore Recycling Corporation.
Connections to Perry’s 2024 campaign
State business records reviewed for this article indicate Chapel Hill Farm I LLC and Chapel Hill Farm II LLC were registered in New Jersey on October 17, 2024.
New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission filings for Perry’s 2024 reelection campaign list two $500 contributions made the following day: one from Bayshore Recycling Corp. and another from Montecalvo Disposal Services Inc.9
The LLCs themselves are not listed as contributors to Perry’s campaign. The connection identified in public records is that the LLCs share a registered agent and address with entities that made the contributions.
A similar deal described in 2023 litigation
The proposed transaction also bears similarities to an arrangement described years earlier in separate litigation against Middletown.
In a June 2024 sworn certification, Seth Gerszberg, a principal of AAFRHW Property LLC, said he met with Perry in August 2023 to discuss the Mountain Hill Property. Gerszberg’s certification was filed in separate litigation involving AAFRHW and Middletown and was later submitted as an exhibit by the property owners in Middletown’s eminent-domain case involving Block 835, Lot 18.10
According to Gerszberg, he asked Perry why the mayor was concerned about development of the Mountain Hill Property when the Conway Property, an approximately 80-acre property along Chapel Hill Road, was another large developable site with sewer service.
Gerszberg said Perry responded that he was not concerned about the Conway Property because it was not going to become an inclusionary development.11
Gerszberg then described what he said Perry told him:
“The Mayor then explained that he was going to make a deal with the Monticalvo [sic] family, which also owned property in the Township – in which that family would purchase the Conway Property and then trade the land to the Township for another piece of land owned by the Township.”12
Gerszberg further alleged that he pursued the Conway Property between September 2023 and April 2024. He said that shortly before he planned to submit a final letter of intent, he learned the property was likely to be sold to the Montecalvo family.13
The certification represents Gerszberg’s account of the events and conversation. It does not independently establish that the conversation occurred as he described it or that the township had reached an agreement at that time. The full filing containing his certification is available below.
Nearly three years after the conversation Gerszberg described, the Township Committee introduced an ordinance authorizing a transaction with a similar basic structure: Middletown would acquire the Chapel Hill property while transferring another township-owned parcel as part of the consideration.
The transaction now before the committee also includes an $8 million payment.
What the records don’t show
The public records reviewed for this article do not establish that the campaign contributions were connected to the proposed transaction, that the contributions influenced any township action, or that an agreement concerning the property existed when the contributions were made. The records establish the corporate connections, contribution dates and property transactions described. Gerszberg’s account of his 2023 conversation with Perry is an allegation contained in a sworn court filing.
Farm-event ordinance also scheduled for hearing
A separate ordinance introduced August 17 would establish local permitting rules for special-occasion events and direct-marketing activities on commercial farms.
Ordinance 2026-3530 would allow special-occasion events on qualifying commercial farms of at least 50 acres, subject to township permitting and operating requirements. Events would have to remain accessory to agricultural operations, and permanent structures could not be constructed solely for special-occasion events.
The ordinance is scheduled for a public hearing and possible final passage at the same September 8 Township Committee meeting.
What happens next
The public hearings on Ordinances 2026-3530 and 2026-3531 are scheduled for September 8 at 7 p.m.
If adopted, Ordinance 2026-3531 would authorize Middletown to enter into the proposed real-estate agreement involving the Chapel Hill property, the township-owned property and $8 million in cash consideration.14
Full legal filing
The filing below is Edward Tretter’s August 1, 2024 certification in Township of Middletown v. Estate of Vitus Tretter, Docket No. MON-L-001438-24. Included as Exhibit A is Seth Gerszberg’s June 7, 2024 certification from the separate consolidated litigation AAFRHW Property LLC v. Township of Middletown, Docket Nos. MON-L-001260-23 and MON-L-002588-23.
Notes
- Township of Middletown, Ordinance 2026-3531, “Ordinance Authorizing Entry of Agreement for the Purchase and Sale of Real Estate,” introduced August 17, 2026, p. 1.
- Seth Gerszberg, certification, June 7, 2024, in Edward Tretter, “Certification of Defendant Edward Tretter in Opposition to Order to Show Cause,” Township of Middletown v. Estate of Vitus Tretter, Docket No. MON-L-001438-24, filed August 1, 2024, exhibit A, p. 3.
- Township of Middletown, Ordinance 2026-3531, pp. 1–2.
- Ibid., p. 1.
- Ibid., pp. 1–2.
- Ibid., p. 2.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission, candidate and committee filing reports, Tony Perry 2024 reelection campaign.
- Seth Gerszberg, certification, June 7, 2024, AAFRHW Property LLC v. Township of Middletown, Docket Nos. MON-L-001260-23 and MON-L-002588-23, reproduced as exhibit A to Edward Tretter’s certification in Township of Middletown v. Estate of Vitus Tretter, Docket No. MON-L-001438-24, filed August 1, 2024, pp. 3–7 of the filed document.
- An inclusionary development is a residential development that includes a substantial number of homes reserved for low- and moderate-income households. See N.J.S.A. 52:27D-304(f).
- Gerszberg, certification, p. 5 of the filed document.
- Ibid., pp. 5–6.
- Township of Middletown, Ordinance 2026-3531, pp. 1–3.