Comcast’s Conversion of Former Friendly’s Restaurant to Get Hearing in Brick

The former Brick Friendly’s restaurant at 741 Brick Boulevard. (Credit: Real Estate Listing)

While Comcast shut down its office on Brick Boulevard to front-facing consumer operations several years ago, the office has continued on as a switching and utility center, and a plan floated earlier this year to expand that use to the former Friendly’s restaurant building next door is due for a hearing before the township’s planning board next week.

The company’s plan is to use the former restaurant as an unmanned switching and backup station as the company rolls out new fiber optic and wireless products that are expected to, eventually, supplant traditional cable hookups. The building will host backup generators and other equipment to support the company’s presence in Brick. Comcast is also seeking to “enhance on-site circulation” and install catwalks, landscaping, lighting, and security fencing. The roof would also be reconstructed.

Under the plan due to be presented to the board, Comcast would move most of its operations to the Friendly’s building, and use of the former customer service building is “anticipated to be eliminated.” In a letter from the engineering firm representing Comcast, the intent of adding a new facility next door to the existing facility will allow Comcast to “upgrade the telecommunications services to continue to provide reliable and state-of-the-art services to Brick Township residents.”

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Comcast cable box. (Photo: Daniel Nee)

Presumably, this refers to the company’s nationwide efforts to upgrade its network to allow “fiber to the home” wired connections that would support extreme high-speed connections as customers move away from traditional cable television packages and toward data-intensive streaming. While Comcast primarily relies on its existing hybrid fiber-coaxial network for its Xfinity suite for products, they are increasingly deploying fiber closer to the end customers’ homes.

The former Friendly’s building will be leased by Comcast from 226 Market Realty, a Bronx, N.Y. company. The property is located in the B-3 Highway Business Development zone. After Friendly’s closed, several casual restaurants opened in its place, including “Shut Up and Eat,” a whimsical eatery known for its policy of welcoming customers in their pajamas, and Come 2 Mama’s, which served homestyle dishes for breakfast and lunch.

The former Friendly’s restaurant, at 741 Brick Boulevard, was located next door to what was once a Comcast customer service office at 751 Brick Boulevard. The Comcast office shut its doors to customers several years ago, forcing patrons to go southward to Toms River, where an office that sells the company’s Xfinity suite of products is located in a shopping center near the Ocean County Mall. The closure of manned cable offices is not limited to Comcast; its rival Altice USA, which operates the Optimum suite of products, closed its Ocean County locations over the last several years, forcing customers on the barrier island and Lakewood to travel to Wall Township. Likewise, its Seaside Heights office has become an unmanned switching and fiber backup station.

The application is before the planning board since it needs several variances from the board before approval. For this use in the B-3 business zone, 87,120 square feet, or 2 acres, is normally required, whereas approximately 25,500 square feet exists. The lot is also 150 feet wide where 200 feet is normally required, and several existing setbacks from when the building was constructed pre-date the current zoning code. Traffic generation will be virtually zero, as the station will largely be unmanned, and the building is not located near any residential homes.

The application will be heard at the July 30, 2025 planning board meeting, which is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at the township municipal complex.