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