Hotel/Condo Project in Wildwood

Developers Unveil $225M Hotel/Condo Project
By Eric Peterson
October 24, 2006
GlobeStreet.com

Wildwood Beach Hotel(To read more on the multifamily market, click here.)
WILDWOOD, NJ-A Princeton-based group headed by a 9/11 survivor has unveiled plans for the Wildwood Beach Hotel and Resort, a combination of residential condos and hotel rooms. The project, which will rise 25 stories along a full city block, will encompass 190 luxury beachfront condos and 150 hotel rooms. It will cost $225 million. Pending a coastal permit, required for construction from the New Jersey DEP, targeted completion is December 2009.

The developer is Princeton Junction Development Partners LLC, headed by Christian Nickerson. And for this project, Nickerson has partnered up with William Meyer of Meyer Jabara Hotels, which will operate the property once it’s completed, and Dr. Gerard Klauder, whose firm Klauder & Associates will serve as construction manager of the W.B., as the property is being called. This city is on the Atlantic Ocean between Atlantic City and Cape May, and the hotel site itself is adjacent to the Wildwood Convention Center.

“As a survivor of the 9/11 attack on Tower One of the World Trade Center, I believe people think differently about travel,” Nickerson says. “Many families would like to have a taste of the Caribbean without the hassles of airport security, passports and a long plane ride. Even in winter, visitors would be able to relax at our indoor beach.”

That indoor beach is part of an indoor water park, according to plans unveiled over the weekend. Also part of the amenity package for the W.B. are a spa, restaurants, retail shops and indoor parking.

“Our location, steps from the new convention center, combined with the amenities, will help us turn Wildwood into an all-season resort,” Nickerson says. “Our project is expected to fuel Wildwood’s revitalization.”

The W.B. is the fourth project Nickerson’s group has been involved in recently. The others include a luxury condo property on the bay in Wildwood, two residential developments in Deptford and ongoing management of the Oceanic Hotel here.

Meyer Jabara Hotels, meanwhile, is a Danbury, CT and West Palm Beach, FL-based group with a portfolio of 26 hotels with more than 4,700 rooms in 12 states operated under licenses from Marriott, Hilton, Sheraton and Holiday Inn. Klauder & Associates is a Hollywood, FL-based construction management firm.

Sky High

Wildwood developers look to sky

By MICHAEL MILLER Staff Writer, (609) 463-6712
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Monday, October 23, 2006

WILDWOOD — Lately, when developers size up land for new construction in the city, they risk getting cricks in their necks.
That's because the most ambitious new projects proposed here are high-rise hotels.

The Nouveau Wave, the Oceanic, the Starlight, the Pearl and the Waypoint Beach Club have won city approvals. Several others are in the planning stages.

And on Saturday, a Princeton developer unveiled designs for a $225 million, 25-story hotel called Wildwood Beach Hotel and Resort — or simply the W.B.

This doo-wop themed hotel across from the Wildwoods Convention Center will boast 190 beachfront condos and another 150 hotel rooms. The hotel will have its own spa, restaurants, indoor shopping and an indoor water park featuring a sandy beach and wave pool.

The hotel's facade resembles a giant drink tumbler bordered by lava lamps in a one-of-a-kind style befitting the city's attachment to all things doo-wop.
“That's what the mayor wants. That's what the town wants,” said Stephen Scherfel, co-founder of the development firm Princeton Junction Group.

Wildwood changed its zoning laws just 18 months ago to accommodate new high-rise hotels. Previously, the city allowed a top height of just 128 feet or 12 stories. The tallest building in the city is Sandman Towers, which stands 13 stories tall.

So far no shovels have been planted on any of the hotels. None so far has persuaded the state Department of Environmental Protection to grant a coastal permit required for construction.

In June, the DEP rejected a Coastal Area Facility Review Act permit for the 281-foot-tall Nouveau Wave Hotel proposed for Rio Grande Avenue. The DEP said it feared the imposing hotel might interfere with bird migrations that make Cape May County one of the best birding spots in the nation.

Neighbors of the hotel would fare no better, the DEP said. The hotel would block air and light and possibly even clog up sewers, the agency said.

Every other high-rise hotel will face the same state scrutiny before construction can commence.

Mayor Ernie Troiano said he is optimistic that the hotels will prevail.

“It's just a matter of time. The DEP has been working with us,” he said.

The city and its taxpayers stands to reap a windfall in savings if even one of the hotels is built.

“I suspect the tax rate will be next to nothing. Our tax assessor estimated we should see a 15-cent reduction for each of them,” Troiano said.

The city is sitting on about $1.7 billion in taxable property now. Troiano said the new hotels could triple that, taking a tax burden off many residents.

Meanwhile, the hotels hold the promise of jobs in a resort that regularly sees the highest wintertime unemployment rate in New Jersey.

The business community is behind the high rises. The Greater Wildwoods Tourism Improvement and Development Authority endorsed the Wildwood Beach Hotel and Resort to bring more convention business to the 5-year-old center across the street.

Authority Vice Chairwoman Mary Erceg said the state can't strand its $75 million investment in the convention center. The island needs more accommodations to support it.

“If one arm of New Jersey government builds something like this, the other arm should support it,” she said.

But she, too, is optimistic about Wildwood's high-rise future.

“I think once the (CAFRA) permit is given and the first shovel is in the ground, the floodgates will open,” she said.

The developers seemed pretty confident, too, during Saturday's lava-lamp-themed launch party for the W.B. Scherfel said he expected his hotel to be the first or second high rise to open on the island.

But it certainly won't be the last.

To e-mail Michael Miller at The Press:
MMiller@pressofac.com

Sunset Lake Improvements

Wildwood Crest plans Sunset Lake improvements

By TRUDI GILFILLIAN Staff Writer, (609) 463-6716
Published: Thursday, October 12, 2006
Press of Atlantic City

WILDWOOD CREST — The borough has awarded a $1.8 million contract to Albrecht & Heun to stabilize the shoreline around Sunset Lake.

Borough Clerk Kevin Yecco said the project involves the addition of soft-concrete armoring to square off and clean up the area along the shoreline of the popular lake.

Yecco said the project would allow the borough to reclaim another 10 to 20 feet of land by removing the rocks and old concrete dumped in the lake decades ago near Rambler Road south, making the area more attractive at low tide.

A pre-construction meeting will take place in the next couple of days to determine a project timeline.

Funding for the shoreline improvements comes from $1.4 million in state grants with the borough providing the remainder.

During Wednesday's regular meeting, Borough Commission also agreed to submit an application to the state Department of Transportation to use state money set aside to extend its bike path to instead improve the bike path that already exists along the beachfront.

The borough has $250,000 set aside to extend the path, but found it would make more sense to upgrade the existing path.

During a closed session, the commissioners also discussed the town's involvement in the Joint Construction Office of the Wildwoods.

The borough previously submitted a letter to the island-wide agency informing it of the borough's plans to leave the joint construction office by Dec. 31 if its requests were not met. Those requests include hiring a full-time administrator and having the state conduct any building inspections of high-rises proposed for the city of Wildwood.

Yecco said the borough is still reviewing its options while it waits for a formal response from the joint construction office.

Some of the options under consideration are hiring a third-party to conduct the borough's building inspections, having the state Department of Community Affairs perform inspections or having the work done in-house.

Borough Solicitor Doreen Corino also is working with Tax Assessor Jason Hesley to come up with a plan of action regarding Cape May County's order that the borough perform a revaluation.

The borough has been told to conduct the revaluation of the town's properties next year to allow those figures to be placed on the county's tax rolls in 2008.
Also Wednesday, the commission considered whether its logo, featuring the Brigantine Nancy, should be replaced with something new. The matter is still in the discussion phase.

To e-mail Trudi Gilfillian at The Press: Gilfillian@pressofac.com