Avalon Strip Gets the Wrecking Ball

AVALON – Linda and Jen Schwartz said goodbye to customers of Avalon’s Tortilla Flats almost one year ago in a Facebook post. A family-run business since 1983 closed with the retirement of its owners. Now, the building that hosted a strip of stores of which it was a part has been demolished. The strip also included Nemo’s Pizzeria, Shades sunglasses store, the Spot, a surf boutique, and Avalon Nails, which were all open in the summer of 2022.
The property in the 2500 block of Dune Drive was recently approved for street-level retail and top-floor residential complex by the Avalon Planning and Zoning Board at its Aug. 9 meeting. It is a typical configuration for a commercial rebuild in the borough. It is also a configuration that has contributed to the borough’s loss of restaurants and eateries since condo associations all too often vote against restaurants as part of the first-floor retail space. 
There is current controversy in the resort town over a recent change to the borough’s master plan which would potentially allow a boutique hotel in the business district. Advocates of the hotel plan say the added foot traffic the hotel would bring would help enliven Avalon’s commercial downtown. Opponents make the point that a hotel would not reverse the loss of mom-and-pop businesses and the conversion of retail buildings to sites controlled by condo associations.