The Ludlam sign is the last remnant of the hotel complex that formerly occupied the property at the corner of John F. Kennedy Boulevard and Landis Avenue.
High-profile property in Sea Isle City intended as the site of a luxury boutique hotel will be used for a temporary outdoor bar this summer, according to the latest plans.
The project is scheduled to come before the city’s zoning board on April 6 for review and possible approval. The developer, 42nd Place LLC, will seek site plan approval and a use variance that would allow the bar to be built.
A use variance is needed from the zoning board because an outdoor bar is not permitted in the city’s Motel Business Zoning District, where the property is located, documents show.
The developer’s application with the zoning board maintains that an outdoor bar “is in character with the surrounding area” consisting of other bars and restaurants in Sea Isle’s downtown business district.
The 1.2-acre site occupies the prime corner of John F. Kennedy Boulevard and Landis Avenue at the entrance to the downtown area.
The property has been vacant ever since the last business to operate there, the former Ludlam Hotel complex, was demolished in October 2024. The site is currently surrounded by a fence.
Currently surrounded by a fence, the property is being proposed for a temporary outdoor bar before its full-scale redevelopment as a luxury boutique hotel.Prior to the Ludlam Hotel, the legendary LaCosta Lounge occupied the property. When it opened in the early 1970s, LaCosta Lounge was built on the same spot where some of Sea Isle’s most historic businesses once stood, including the former Bellevue Hotel and Cronecker’s Hotel & Restaurant dating to the late 1800s.
LaCosta was a throwback bar and nightclub that hosted multiple generations of partygoers. The bar was sold to Christopher Glancey and his business partner, Bob Morris, for $7.3 million in 2018, but kept on operating as the LaCosta Lounge under a lease until it closed for good in 2021.
After LaCosta closed, the site was reinvented as the Ludlam bar, restaurant and hotel complex. Glancey and Morris had originally planned to redevelop the site in 2018 for a boutique hotel, but instead renovated the property for its transformation into the Ludlam. The Shorebreak Cafe was also part of the complex.
The development group 42nd Place LLC, controlled by Glancey and Morris, emphasized in documents filed with the zoning board that plans for the boutique hotel have not been abandoned.
As proposed, the new Ludlam hotel complex would feature 26 hotel suites, 20 condo units, a restaurant, bar and small bakery. There would also be a swimming pool on the second floor for hotel guests.
While plans continue for the hotel, the outdoor “Ludlam Beach Bar” would temporarily occupy the site for the summer, the zoning board documents indicate.
“The proposed bar will be temporary in nature and only exists until the applicant begins construction pursuant to the prior planning board approval,” one document stated of the hotel proposal.
Glancey has served as the project’s main spokesperson since the hotel was initially approved by the city in 2020. He could not be reached for comment about plans for the outdoor bar.
An architectural rendering depicts what the new Ludlam boutique hotel project would look like when completed. (Courtesy of Christopher Glancey)
