WILDWOOD – A major developer said longstanding city policies are making it harder to get jobs done in Wildwood, but he feels the current city administration is working diligently to try to correct it.
Joe Byrne, the managing partner of B.G. Capital, which currently has four major active development projects in Wildwood and owns and is looking to expand Seaport Pier, in North Wildwood, said some days he feels like he doesn’t want to put another penny into the shore town.
“Some days I do [feel that way], of course. Some days I want to stick in there and hopefully do more there in Wildwood. I think if there is a concerted effort to really fix the issues there on the permitting side, on the entitlement side, then we would look at doing more. Just being transparent, we’ve had a lot of trouble locally with permitting,” Byrne, a Philadelphia-based developer, said in a Nov. 23 interview.
Human error by the state’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) led B.G. Capital and the city to believe that Coastal Area Facility Review Act (CAFRA) permits, which are expensive and take significant time for approval, would not be required for two of B.G.’s larger projects – residential development at the old St. Anne School and a large residential building with commercial units on the ground floor in the 3600 block of Pacific Avenue.
Now, that has been resolved and Byrne is running into problems with the city. He said Mayor Peter Byron and his administration share a similar vision for the city with him, but they have not had enough time to enact the necessary changes to streamline the development process.
“I think they need to take a look at their process because the process that has been in place for decades, as far as permitting and approvals, is not designed to be user-friendly from a development perspective,” Byrne said. “They have all the tools that they need, but I think they need to revamp their approval process.”
Byron said the city needs to put the necessary resources in place to keep the process of permitting moving. He and fellow Commissioners Steve Mikulski and Krista Fitzsimmons took office in January 2020.
“We want to be geared up to be able to handle the influx of all this new development. If that means bringing additional inspectors in and things such as that, that’s what we’re going to do and that’s what we are doing,” the mayor told the Herald Nov. 24. “This is about making it user–friendly for every developer who walks into City Hall. If there’s some issues, we’re going to fix the issues.”
Byrne said there are more pending development projects in Wildwood now than there have been at one time in decades.
“The mayor and his team inherited a permitting process that’s really not designed for the development that’s occurring now in Wildwood, which, I think they’re going to work on and I think they’ve acknowledged that.,” Byrne said. “I think they’re going to fix it. I just think it’s going to take some time because the people in place care, and they want it fixed.”
Byrne pointed to Qualified Opportunity Zone and Urban Enterprise Zone designations and Area in Need of Redevelopment ordinances as some of the things done to make the town more attractive to developers.
“We’re looking at our master plan,” Byron said. “One of the big things is the zoning and there’s so many different zones in Wildwood that, quite frankly, I never could understand. We’re consolidating the zones and we’re taking a look at what zone would be better suited for residential, what zone would be better for commercial, what zone for mixed use.”
Former St. Anne School and Rectory
An upscale townhouse project, featuring 38 units with outdoor communal areas and shared amenities, is expected to break ground at the site of the former St. Anne School and Rectory Jan. 1, 2022, Byrne said, after nearly a full year of delays caused by the state’s mistake regarding CAFRA permitting.
“I think it’s going to set the mark in Wildwood,” Byrne said of the full-city-block project. “We hope it entices other developers to see what can be done in Wildwood and the opportunity there. We want to attract some new blood to the town.”
Financing and work crews are in place and ready to go, he added.
Byron pointed to the relief it will bring taxpayers, due to an influx of ratables. The city had never received any tax revenue from the church or school.
“We made a promise to do everything we can to stabilize taxes, and you do that by bringing new ratables in,” Byron said.
The project is expected to be ready for people to move in by summer 2023, Byrne said.
3600 Block of Pacific Avenue
A 74-unit housing project marketed toward foreign students working in the Wildwoods on a J-1 visa should open in the second quarter of 2023, Byrne said, after the unexpected CAFRA requirement delayed the project by close to a year.
Now, B.G. Capital has the required approvals and completed demolitions of the former 2nd Street Annie’s, Fairview Café and M.T. Bottle’s, which occupied the parcel. Construction is underway.
Retail space, as well as a pool bar and restaurant, will occupy the ground floor. The pool bar and restaurant will be run by a third-party operator Byrne said, adding a request for proposals to operate the business will be put out at some point next year.
Former Shamrock
B.G. Capital is under contract to buy the lots that contained the former Shamrock bar, Byrne said, but they are working with the seller, Tom Gerace, to relocate an old Victorian house that sits on the property.
“We’re supportive of his efforts,” Byrne said. “We said we’ll wait to close on the property until you get it moved and in its new home. In that sense, everyone wins. We salvage a historical piece of property.”
Gerace, who is moving the building and owned the Shamrock, told the Herald he will live in the house and is waiting on the utility companies to make it ready to move, adding it will only be moved 190 feet across Pacific Avenue to a lot behind Romeo’s Pizza.
The house was built in the early 1900s and opened as the Berwind Hotel, according to Preserving the Wildwoods. In 1937, Irish immigrant Cornelius Ward bought the Berwind, moved upstairs, and established the Shamrock Café, Preserving the Wildwoods said. The original Shamrock was inside the house before it gradually expanded over subsequent decades, according to the historic preservation group.
“It’s a development project for us,” Byrne said. “I can only tell you a limited amount because we are under contract and there are NDA (non-disclosure agreement) provisions in our agreement. We don’t own that parcel yet.”
Byrne said feasibility and schematic design still need to get moving and that he doesn’t like to do that until they are close to 60 days from settlement. He does not expect settlement on the lot until March 2022.
As for what will go in there, Byrne said, “I honestly don’t know yet.”
3800 Block of Pacific Avenue
The parking required by CAFRA for the 3600 Pacific Avenue housing project is going to be at a parcel owned by B.G. Capital in the 3800 block of Pacific Avenue. The 3800 property includes the bar – The Wood – that was open for part of summer 2021.
Byron said the parking is unnecessary because the people living at 3600 Pacific will not have cars. He said Senate President Steve Sweeney was lobbying to get Wildwood designated as a “Qualified Municipality” to get around the parking requirement.
“We’re working very closely with Senate President Steve Sweeney. , and he’s still our senate Senate president up until January,” Byron said.
Sweeney, a powerful and connected New Jersey Democrat, who led the state Senate for 12 years, was defeated in November by Republican truck driver Edward Durr, who ran a bare-bones campaign and has never held elected office. Sweeney has a home in Diamond Beach, Byron said.
“We have a really great relationship with the DEP, which I’m quite sure we haven’t had before. We work very closely with the DEP,” Byron said.
Byrne said B.G. Capital also owns the Veterans of Foreign Wars post that abuts the property and some development may still be able to go in around the parking.
Seaport Pier
An application is in with the DEP to expand one of B.G.’s operational properties – Seaport Pier – with a seasonal beach bar on the sand.
“We’re pretty far down the path with CAFRA and the DEP. They’ve been great, to be honest” Byrne said. “We’re excited to hopefully have that up and running for 2022.”
The DEP issued notices of violation in June 2020 to B.G. Capital, alleging part of the Seaport Pier restaurant and an attached members–only pool club violated various environmental statutes.
Byrne said they are still working to resolve those.
“It’s not in the rearview mirror officially yet, but we have direct open lines of communication with the highest level of officials at the DEP CAFRA level,” he said. “We expect to have that resolved in the next couple of months.”
To contact Shay Roddy, email sroddy@cmcherald.com.
