OCEAN CITY – Eustace Mita, chief executive officer of ICONA Resorts and owner of the now defunct Wonderland Amusement Pier property, announced this month that he has two parties interested in the site for residential development.
Within weeks of the City Council’s effectively killing Mita’s proposal for a luxury resort hotel on the site at Sixth and Boardwalk, he said he’d received an offer for the land from Phil Norcross for the $25 million price he had mentioned as he left the City Council meeting.
Norcross is the CEO of the law firm Parker McCay. He also serves as a trustee of the Cooper University Health System and is chair of the Cooper Foundation. He is the brother of South Jersey Democratic power broker George Norcross III.
The Norcross proposal is to use the land for a residential subdivision of townhomes.
Mita also said he has been approached by builder Ryan Homes, which has also expressed interest in the property as a site for residential development.
The Wonderland property is not zoned for residential development, so either potential buyer would need city zoning variances or the designation of the site as an area in need of redevelopment, a designation Mita sought and was unable to get from the City Council.
Ryan Homes is already involved in a project in Middle Township that has taken advantage of the flexibilities offered by a redevelopment zone designation. Ultimately that plan envisions a 340-home residential community off Indian Trail Road.
A number of community groups formed in opposition to Mita’s proposed resort hotel, objecting to the size of the complex with 252 rooms, a number of retail storefronts and parking for 375 vehicles. The size was seen as out of proportion with the rest of the city’s boardwalk. There were even proposals from community groups for a smaller amusement area with rides for young children.
It is not clear whether a large residential subdivision would get community support. One group, OceanCity2050, sees Mita trying to use the announcements of residential developer interest in the site as a way to reverse the council decision.
They point to the fact that current zoning does not allow for residential development of the site and say the announcements are “scare tactics” meant to drive support for the hotel proposal as an alternative to townhomes. They have launched a social media banner entitled “Ignore Him.”
Jim Kelly, a founder of the OceanCity2050 advocacy group, said the city now has three “clear priorities.” He lists these as beginning a thoughtful master plan process, protecting the boardwalk as the city’s economic engine and leading with good government.
The path laid out by the council is to refer the issue of the use of the site to the Planning Board as part of that board’s development of a master plan process.
Only council Vice President Pete Madden disagreed with the council’s Aug. 21 decision on Mita’s proposal. He said waiting for a master plan reexamination process was essentially “kicking the can down the road.”
The delay that process would impose was instrumental in Mita’s saying he was pulling out and selling the land.
He’d bought the land that Wonderland Pier occupies from Mayor Jay Gillian and his family when the pier fell into debt. He then leased it back to Gillian so that the pier amusements could continue.
Mita left the Aug. 21 council meeting saying he would sell the land for $25 million and end his quest to build the resort.
Contact the reporter, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.
