Hotel rises in Freehold

JEFF GRANIT staff The first steps on the road to building a new structure on the site of the former American Hotel on Main Street, Freehold Borough, were taken May 14. A threetiered steel frame now sits where the historic landmark was razed in January. The hotel was part of the fabric of the borough's streetscape for almost 200 years. Calling the construction of the new building "exciting," owner Steve Goldberg's current plan calls for the construction of a 22-room hotel - something the American Hotel had not been used as for years- along with a restaurant and banquet facilities. Goldberg purchased the American Hotel in a public auction in March 2006.