Leaders in Ocean City will hold a vote Thursday night to determine the next steps in the redevelopment of the former Gillian's Wonderland Pier site on the boardwalk. The outcome will decide whether a contentious proposal to build a luxury hotel remains on the table at the former amusement park property.
Debate over the future of the site at Sixth Street has animated the Jersey Shore community since Wonderland Pier closed in October 2023, ending the park's decadeslong run as a fixture on the east end of the boardwalk.
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Icona Resorts, the Jersey Shore hotel chain that bought the struggling amusement park in 2021, hopes to build a 252-room hotel that would preserve Wonderland's iconic Ferris wheel and other rides at the property. Opponents of the hotel plan, which is not permitted under current boardwalk zoning laws, fear it would damage Ocean City's family-friendly reputation and create an unwanted obstruction on the beachfront.
"Whoever is going to do something there is going to need flexibility with the zoning," City Council Vice President Pete Madden said in advance of Thursday's vote, which was put on the agenda for a second time after City Council initially voted it down, 6-1, in August.
Madden was the lone "yes" vote over the summer, and he said he rallied support from colleagues to keep the Wonderland Pier site from becoming a languishing eyesore for years to come.
"In my opinion, the hotel could be the crown jewel of Ocean City," Madden said. "I think we're going to generate tourism-type traffic purely from the build. People are going to go down to check it out. We already have people line up to watch sand get pumped in when the beaches get filled."
Thursday's vote would not guarantee that a hotel gets built, but it would be a major step in that direction. Current zoning at the Wonderland property only permits another amusement park, which the owner and many Ocean City leaders say is not economically viable anymore.
If the resolution passes, the Wonderland property will be referred to the city's planning board to decide whether to recommend that the site be designated as an area in need of rehabilitation. Instead of issuing a zoning variance for the property, the designation would allow the city to negotiate directly with the developer on the project's details. It also would allow Ocean City to take advantage of a state program that offers tax incentives to the city for the site's redevelopment.
"That's the icing on the cake," Madden said. "That's not the driving factor here. It's to get something in there that will help the city."
Boardwalk merchants and business leaders back the hotel
Icona Resorts CEO Eustace Mita initially vowed to sell the Wonderland property in the aftermath of the vote in August.
Mita has received two competing bids — both north of $25 million – from Virginia-based developer Ryan Homes and the family of South Jersey attorney Philip Norcross. Both potential buyers would also need zoning changes or a rehab designation to build townhomes on the property. Mita is unwilling to continue operating the Wonderland Pier building as a pizza shop and arcade in the interim, as he did over the summer. He said Thursday's vote will determine whether he sells the property.
"If it's a 'no' vote tomorrow, it means the hotel debate is over," Mita said Wednesday during a news conference with business leaders at the Ocean City Music Pier.
The Icona hotel proposal has support from the Ocean City Boardwalk Merchants Association, the Downtown Merchants Association, the Ocean City Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Ocean City Restaurant Association.
Business leaders noted Wednesday that several shops on the east end of the boardwalk are not planning to renew their leases. They fear inaction at the Wonderland site could lead to years of stagnation and political fights over the property's future.
"The Ocean City Boardwalk could really use some help right now — and some hope," Wes Kazmarck, head of the boardwalk merchants association, said after Wednesday's news conference. "The urgency is if this is a 'no' vote, this will not be a hotel. But Mita will stay in the game if there's a process and progress. This is really just to get it started."
Mita has been asked by council members to delay selling the Wonderland property until a decision is made on designating the property for rehabilitation. Council member Jody Levchuk, who voted against sending the matter to the planning board in August, has since joined Madden and council member Tony Polcini as supporters of the measure.
"I did 100% of my due diligence. The community has spoken, I believe," Levchuk said Wednesday. "Sure, there's people who are horribly against it, but that's a segment of the community. And I respect their opinions."
A Rutgers poll commissioned last year by Ocean City 2050 found residents leaned slightly against the hotel project and were most strongly against high-rise development on the boardwalk.
The resolution needs four votes to pass, and Madden said he hopes another vote will come from Council President Terry Crowley Jr. or Councilman Dave Winslow. Keith Hartzell is a staunch opponent of the project, and Sean Barnes has favored other paths to redeveloping the property.
City Council's next election is in May, making Thursday night's meeting a potential line in the sand for Ocean City's leaders, businesses and residents.
Mita believes a "yes" vote would open months of negotiations before a deal is reached and construction would begin on the hotel, which he now estimates will cost about $170 million. He said the project could be finished in 18 months and urged the council to end the state of limbo over the property's future.
"You could almost say the site's been condemned because it can't be used as an amusement park anymore," Mita said Wednesday. "... If you leave the biggest site in Ocean City dead, where's the encouragement?"
'Let's just decide'
Two of the community groups opposed to the hotel, Ocean City 2050 and Save Wonderland, want the city to continue a master planning process that reviews the entire boardwalk's zoning.
Opponents of the hotel would prefer to see a new entertainment facility built at the Wonderland site in a plan that could include a limited number of condominiums. They also believe any zoning changes, including for the Wonderland property, should be decided by a council subcommittee that was formed over the summer with representation from residents.
"It's a zoning question," said Bill Merritt, one of Ocean City 2050's board members. "Should we change the boardwalk zoning to (incentivize) certain investment? That's a perfectly legitimate question to ask. Why they're pushing for this rehab designation is really curious to me because it doesn't answer that question. It answers whether this property is dilapidated. How does that help on zoning?"
Merritt contends the designation will give Mita an advantage to negotiate the hotel project with the city behind closed doors. He claimed a similar result followed the council's vote in October to rehabilitate the site of the Seaspray Condominiums, a condemned property at 34th Street and Bay Avenue that's now on track to be redeveloped with input from the planning board.
"It all got negotiated outside the public view," Merritt said.
Madden said negotiating with Mita could ultimately steer the hotel project more toward the community's wishes.
"We have to balance the project being what the community wants but also where whoever owns it and is proposing the idea can have a profitable, thriving business," Madden said. "... I think everybody would like to see it a little bit smaller, more of a boutique hotel than a grand hotel with hundreds of rooms, but what we have to go into is the model the hotel owner has and what can work."
Mita said Wednesday he's received no written or verbal offers to buy the Wonderland property from any of the opposition groups who want the site to remain an amusement park. He also said he hopes the boardwalk master planning process continues with the subcommittee on council.
"That has nothing to do with (the Wonderland property)," Mita said. "They could study this thing for another three, four, five, seven, 10 years. One thing remains clear: That site has to go into redevelopment."
Kazmarck, the head of the boardwalk merchants association, said he expects the "silent majority" of the business community to show up at Thursday night's meeting and make their voices heard as clearly as those opposed to the hotel.
"This has been well over a year now of discussion, town halls, meetings upon meetings and phone calls — all that kind of stuff," he said. "At this point, let's just decide. Let the planning board look at that designation and let's just move forward."
Disclaimer: Philip Norcross is the uncle of PhillyVoice founder and Chairwoman Lexie Norcross.