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‘Condotels’ on Rise: First High-Rise OK'd by DEP
BMF Inc | 6 days 14 hours ago | Comments 8
WILDWOOD — One down. Five to go.
The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has given the go-ahead to the city’s first high-rise hotel.
The Coastal Area Facilities Review Act, commonly called CAFRA, permit went to the 23-story Starlight Resort, a high-rise “condotel” developed by the Bill Morey Family, BMF, Inc., that will be built on a parking lot between Juniper and Ocean avenues.
The 255-foot building would consist of five floors of parking, with 654 available spaces. Plans for the sixth floor include housing a common area with a hotel lobby, a 200-seat restaurant and an indoor/outdoor pool that overlooks the beach. The remaining floors will hold 264 residential units.
The state permit comes been more than two years since BMF Inc. first went before the city’s zoning board asking for approval and more than a year since the state issued instructions on how the city could garner state approval.
The city’s first high-rise condotel, the 25-story Nouveau Wave Hotel, approved by the zoning board back in 2004, was rejected in 2006 by the CAFRA, permitting process.
The June 2006 reject letter stated, that the towering structure, which would include five stories of parking, a pool deck, five stories of hotel rooms, 11 stories of condos, at the site of the now demolished, Rio Motel on Rio Grande and Ocean avenues, was “out of character” with the surrounding area. Additionally, the building would be a potential danger to migratory birds, public safety, and damaging to the collection of doo-wop motels.
The city has approved six high-rise condotels including, the Nouveau Wave, the Wild-wood Beach Resort and Hotel, the Starlite Resort, the East Bennett Project the Waypoint Beach Club, and the Riviera.
Contact Suit at: (609) 886-8600 ext. 25 or lsuit@cmcherald.com
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Comments (8)
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Sat, 05/10/2008 - 7:05pm
The project will not find financing without the sale of units as condos, even if a significant number are dedicated hotel units, as no major hotel chain will invest in a town with such limited viability as a clean, safe, year-round resort. Given the myriad of empty condo units already available on the island, the profligate expenditure of a monstrously bloated and largely incompetent local government, prospective condo investors are similarly nonexistent. These buildings are touted by the mayor and his associates as a cure-all for the city's deplorable financial state, yet our diseases are of our making and these monstrosities are but an imaginary bandage. How have we seen benefit from the increased condo ratables that replaced the motels and created this crisis in the first place? We must treat the hemorrhaging wound of tax dollars on which our vampiric public officials have suckled for so long. Control spending and focus realistically on our most viable season and demographic rather than scramble for a high rise panacea for illusory dreams of February in Wildwood. Castles in the sky. Snake oil.
Sat, 05/10/2008 - 9:04am
Not only will residents in the immediate vicinity of this 255-foot-tall hotel be impacted by construction and the finished product, but those living within many blocks of it in either direction will have their quality of life affected. There's no getting around the fact that this towering giant is being built just one block from the North Wildwood border. Yes, indeed, light pollution is a factor - the boardwalk lights may cast a glow into the evening sky, but there is no denying that anyone looking toward the sky from their homes will be able to escape viewing this mammoth light-emitting structure. Think of the height of the Giant Ferris Wheel on Morey's Pier -- but placed right on the street. Forget about sunlight. The streets, the boardwalk, the beach, and homes below will be cast in a canyon of shadows for much of the day..
So, for the selfishness of a few stakeholders who will line their pockets and leave town, the rest of us must endure this blight to our island.
Come on, people. There must be some way to stop this madness.
There's nothing wrong with building a few new hotels - just keep them to 12-stories max.There will still be jobs to be had for the locals, rooms for the convention-goers, and some quality of life for all of us.
Fri, 05/09/2008 - 10:48am
The Starlight is located in the highest trafficed area on the boardwalk so light polution is as you call it already exsists. The homeowners had 6 different opportunties to voice their opinion and the majority of those that did where in favor. The best use will be as a HOTEL not units owned by individual owners for rent. The Starlight is located in the Tourism and Entertainment district so if anything is out of place it is someone who thinks he is living in a residential district. The Starlight will be built to support year around business in the Wildwoods in conjunction with the GWITDA Plans and to replace some of the 5000 motel units, the Wildwoods have lost during the rush to Condo the Wildwoods. with 1st class units and ammentities and services that Wildwood so dearly needs.
Thu, 05/08/2008 - 5:34pm
Any thoughts to how to get these units financed? According to the Mortgage industry, NJ and in particular, Cape May and Atlantic Counties are in declining market areas, requiring larger down payments on properties, particularly Condos. Many lenders don't even want to finance Condotel units. Good luck with this.
Wed, 05/07/2008 - 11:33pm
Let's get all of the other "inventory" sold before we start building more...when all of these foreclosures start hitting the Wildwoods, there will be even more inventory on the market and property values will plummet even more.
Wed, 05/07/2008 - 9:13pm
how is it that a 25 story hotel is approved in a residential part of town with narrow streets, but rejected in the hotel heart of wildwood
Wed, 05/07/2008 - 5:11pm
WHO WILL BUILD IT? NEXT PHASE IS PUTTING IT UP FOR SALE AND LOOK FOR INVESTORS. NOT LIKELY ANY THING HAPPENING THERE FOR YEARS FROM NOW BY THAT TIME WILDWOOD WILL BE BOARDED UP
Wed, 05/07/2008 - 3:23pm
How is it that Morey gets the first approval? Hmmmm.
Also, what about the neighbors, the rest of the residents living in the shadows of the first of these behemouths? What about light pollution replacing what would otherwise be the night sky? Why didn't the homeowners of the island get any say on this? And, lastly, with so many "for sale" signs, who will buy these condos?
My family has been on the island since 1915. This is the nail in the coffin - time to leave town.
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