Ocean City Business Group Backs Boardwalk Hotel Project

Ocean City’s downtown business owners Tuesday endorsed plans for a luxury resort hotel on the Boardwalk that would replace the defunct Wonderland Pier amusement park.

The Downtown Merchants Association voted 16-5 in favor of developer Eustace Mita’s proposed “ICONA in Wonderland” resort hotel, a 252-room project costing an estimated $135 million to $155 million.

“To be honest, we’re very fortunate to have a developer of that caliber who would want to invest that amount of money in our city,” said Caitlin Quirk, the association’s president who was among those supporting the project.

The vote occurred during the association’s hour-long private meeting at City Hall. Quirk said a dozen other members had wanted to vote by email, but the association’s rules require them to vote in person.

    Downtown Merchants Association President Caitlin Quirk says Ocean City is fortunate to have a hotel developer willing to invest so much money in the community.
  

Mita did not attend the meeting, but was represented by his son, Eustace Mita Jr. In an interview afterward, Mita Jr. was clearly happy with the association’s vote and said he believes it reflects widespread community support for the hotel project.

“We have a large amount of people for the project and only a few against it. That makes us feel that we’re doing the right thing for the city,” he said.

The Downtown Merchants Association represents merchants and owners along the Asbury Avenue retail corridor. On March 5, the Boardwalk Merchants Association, another key group of the city’s business community, voted overwhelmingly in support of Mita’s project.

Mita is methodically trying to line up community support as he prepares to ask City Council in April or May to declare the former Wonderland Pier site “in need of redevelopment” – a move that would bypass local zoning laws and allow the hotel to be built in an area of the Boardwalk that currently allows only retail shops, restaurants and amusements.

Next, he would submit his formal construction plans to the city’s planning board or zoning board about 60 days after he seeks Council’s support, Mita’s son confirmed Tuesday.

    Eustace Mita Jr. believes that the Downtown Merchants Association vote reflects widespread community support for the hotel project.
  

As reflected by the five negative votes at the Downtown Merchants Association meeting, there are still concerns, if not outright opposition, to the hotel project.

City Councilman Keith Hartzell who owns property downtown and is a member of the association, said that he voted against Mita’s plan, mainly because he feels that the project does not offer enough parking to adequately handle the hotel’s guests, restaurant and retail customers and employees.

“There’s not enough parking there. There’s no way that there’s enough parking,” Hartzell said in an interview.

Mita is the owner of the ICONA brand of upscale resorts at the Jersey Shore. His proposed ICONA in Wonderland project in Ocean City would include 375 parking spaces tucked underneath the building. Amenities would include 10 to 12 retail shops clustered within a stylish promenade overlooking the Boardwalk.

Hartzell believes that at least another 63 parking spaces are needed just to handle the guests in the hotel’s 252 rooms. He said there should be negotiations with Mita to increase the number of parking spots.

Hartzell also objects to Mita’s plan to ask the city to rezone the Wonderland Pier site to allow for hotel construction. He wants the Boardwalk businesses to remain amusements, restaurant and retail shops – with no zoning change for hotels.

“I think the Boardwalk should remain what it is. If you buy there, then you should follow the rules,” Hartzell said.

    Stripped of its Wonderland Pier signs, the amusement park's facade at Sixth Street and the Boardwalk appears ghostly.
  

Councilman Jody Levchuk, whose family owns the Jilly’s brand of shops in Ocean City, is a member of both the Downtown Merchants Association and Boardwalk Merchants Association.

Levchuk declined to say whether he voted for or against Mita’s hotel at Tuesday’s meeting. He also didn’t disclose his vote after the Boardwalk Merchants Association met on March 5.

Levchuk said it is his family’s decision whether to support or oppose the hotel, not his alone.

Although he hasn’t revealed his own votes, Levchuk said the votes by both associations are all part of the critical process to gauge community sentiment toward the project.

“This is how the community comes together to come up with a consensus. That’s what they did today,” he said of the Downtown Merchants Association.

Ocean City 2050, a newly formed community group that has expressed concerns about the hotel project, was unsuccessful in asking the Downtown Merchants Association to delay its vote.

Ocean City 2050 maintained in a letter to the Downtown Merchants Association that it is premature to vote because there is not enough information and studies about the hotel and Wonderland Pier’s closure to make an informed decision.

“In short, for over 60 years, Ocean City operated with Wonderland, and there is simply no data available as to how it will operate without it, and to determine whether replacing it with a high rise resort is a good or bad choice for our community,” the letter said.

    The iconic 140-foot-tall Ferris wheel and other Wonderland rides sit silently behind a locked gate now.
  

In pitching the project to the public, Mita has said it would help Ocean City to recover a large chunk of the nearly 2,000 hotel and motel rooms it has lost in the last 30 years because of the city’s evolution into more of a vacation market of condos and second homes.

Local preservationists, though, want the site revived as a modern version of Wonderland Pier, complete with amusement rides and other family-friendly attractions.

In a nod to Wonderland, Mita plans to incorporate the former amusement park’s most iconic rides in the hotel project, including the 140-foot-tall Ferris wheel that towers over the Boardwalk, the historic carousel and the Wet Boats kiddie ride.

Mita is the owner of the Wonderland property at Sixth Street and the Boardwalk. He invested in Wonderland Pier in 2021 to save the financially troubled amusement park from a sheriff’s auction after Mayor Jay Gillian defaulted on an $8 million mortgage.

The Gillian family had operated Wonderland for nearly 60 years. Despite Wonderland’s rich history and traditions, Jay Gillian closed the park on Oct. 13 amid its financial struggles.