OC Will Pay More for Old Car Dealership

OCEAN CITY – The lots of a former car dealership that the city has long sought to acquire will likely now reportedly cost them more, as real estate prices at the Jersey Shore have skyrocketed since 2020. 
The city had been trying to negotiate with the landowner but later filed to acquire the property by eminent domain, the Press of Atlantic City reported. Mayor Jay Gillian has expressed a desire to keep the property as open space, rather than allow it to be developed into more housing. The properties received planning board approval for multiple single-family units. 
Ocean City Council approved two bond ordinances, worth more than $3 million each, to cover additional expenses involved in the acquisition.
The former dealership, at 16th Street and Haven Avenue, is now owned by the city, according to its attorney, Dottie McCrosson, but the fair market value for the land is still being determined, the Press reported. That could wind up being set by a court. 
The lot hasn’t been an operational dealership since 2018. The dealership building has since been demolished and it is now just a large, paved area. The lots were owned by Palmer Center LLC, headed by John Flood, and another part is owned by Flood’s cousins, brothers Harry and Jerry Klause, the Press reported. 
In 2018, the city reportedly had a deal to acquire the Klause brothers’ lots for $9 million, but a local government watchdog organization, Fairness in Taxes, challenged the bond ordinance to fund the acquisition in a petition drive. McCrosson reportedly said the petition delayed the deal and, in the meantime, the agreement of sale expired and the Klause brothers declined to renew it.
The properties controlled by Flood are now assessed by the city at $7.2 million; the Klause lot is assessed at $9.8 million, according to the Press. 
There is also an issue with contamination of some of Flood’s land, according to the Press, since a dry cleaner or other business used to use volatile organic compounds there.  There are parts of Flood’s property that the city’s attorney reportedly said are not up to residential environmental standards.
The city had sought to have the property condemned, but according to Dave Breeden, president of Fairness in Taxes, the city failed to deposit the properties’ estimated value with the court at the same time it submitted the motion for condemnation, allowing the owners to seek updated appraisals, raising the value, the Press reported.