James V. Gorman, the board chairman for the FMERA, called the selection of a broker “an essential step” in the push to regenerate jobs and economic activity in Monmouth County around Eatontown, Tinton Falls, and Oceanport.

The agency is already in negotiations with AcuteCare, a company that would create 200 new jobs and invest an estimated $15 million to renovate a facility on a 16-acre parcel of the base in Oceanport. Also, it has approved a purchase-sale agreement with CommVault, a data management company that plans to build a 650,000-square-foot, state-of- headquarters on a parcel in Tinton Falls.

With the brokerage firm in place, “we are now in a better position to advance FMERA’s mission and create an atmosphere in which employers will employ and investors will invest, to maximize the jobs created and the value of the property,” Gorman said. For decades, Fort Monmouth served as the center for development of communications, computers, intelligence and reconnaissance for the U.S. Army; radar, FM radio, night vision goggles, and satellite communication were developed at the site.

“This property boasts remarkable assets that we want companies across the United States and throughout the world to know about,” said Bruce Steadman of FMERA.

Cushman & Wakefield is to work in line with “the shared goals and interests of FMERA and the US Army” in redevelopment of the property, according to the wording of its contract. Last month, the authority signed an agreement with the Army that divided the land into specific parcels, which will be transferred to state ownership in two phases.

“It is our understanding,” says Medina, “that many unsolicited expressions of interest have already come in about development at Fort Monmouth. Our next step will be to meet with leadership of the municipalities to get a sense and feel for what is important to them, and then create a systematic way to process the proposals that are most viable.”

Medina says the property will be “very aggressively” marketed nationwide, even globally, to developers and investors. At this point, the variety of possible uses includes residential and retail along with office, warehouse and distribution, and possibly high technology facilities.

At the same time as the hiring of CW was announced, Jones Lang LaSalle was named an alternative broker to be used in case of a conflict of interest, as is standard procedure in large public/private projects.