Ever Changing Wildwood

Midstaters ride Wildwoods condo wave
Back in the 1920s they were tearing down fishing shacks to build houses. In the 1940s they tore down houses to build boarding homes. In the '60s they tore down boarding homes to build motels. Now they are tearing down motels to build condos. The Wildwoods have been very flexible over the years.

Sunday, June 25, 2006
BY CHRIS A. COUROGEN
Of The Patriot-News

To many who vacationed at the Jersey shore in summers past, the Wildwoods were best known for their abundance of funky '60s motels.

Built in bold, modernistic style with themes such as the Orient, pirates and outer space, the motels of North Wildwood, Wildwood and Wildwood Crest were considered the greatest concentration of mid-century architecture in the nation.

Despite efforts to save the resort's retro look -- dubbed "doo wop" by preservationists -- the old motels are falling to make room for an explosion in condos. Some midstaters are investing in what might be the Jersey shore's hottest real estate market.

They are drawn to the Wildwoods by the easy 31/2-hour commute from central Pennsylvania, the chance to purchase seashore property at comparatively affordable prices and memories of childhood vacations spent on the wide beaches by day and two-mile boardwalk at night.

"We were looking for a place at the shore that we liked and could afford. We bought a place right on the boardwalk. We have an ocean view. It's just a perfect location," said Judith Connor, 54, of Hershey.

The Connors bought their condo as an investment, but they have found they enjoy using it themselves so much, they are renting it out for fewer weeks than originally planned.

Retro recedes:
They reflect a growing trend. According to the National Association of Realtors, one-third of all home purchases are second homes to be used as investment properties or vacation getaways. Resort spots have been the hottest segment of that market.
In Wildwood, motel nostalgia can't compete with the demand for condos.

"Those motels are gone. There are only a few still left that look like they are from the '60s," said Robert Scully, curator of the Wildwood Historical Society's George F. Boyer Historical Museum.

More than 130 motels have been demolished, Scully said, with more to follow. Gone, too, are many of the old rooming houses, popular with students flocking there for senior weeks and summertime partying. In their place are condos and town houses -- close to 3,500 since the start of the boom in 2000, with more on the way.
"Every time we go down it seems there is another new condo being built," said Michael McNally of Hampden Twp.

McNally is among the midstate residents who have gotten in on the Wildwoods boom. McNally bought his three-bedroom, two-bath, beach block unit in North Wildwood three years ago. Since then, McNally said, his property's value has almost doubled.
David L. Schultz of Camp Hill purchased a condo unit three blocks from the boardwalk in Wildwood last year for $229,000. Units in the same building now sell for close to $400,000, Schultz said.

Shore was rowdy:
Real estate agents who had watched prices soar in Cape May and other shore towns said Wildwood was poised to be discovered.

"There had been development in all the other shore towns down here. Wildwood was sort of skipped over. It was just sort of sitting there waiting," said Carol McCormick of Wildwood's Don Martin Realty.

"We were very underrated here. We're a barrier island and property was cheap here. You couldn't give stuff away. It was just a matter of time," Len Lauriello, a member of Wildwood's planning board, said.

"Stone Harbor and Avalon were totally out of our price range. It was basically the only place that was relatively affordable on the New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland shores," said Lee Liebler of Hershey, who two years ago bought a condo three blocks from the North Wildwood beach.

Bruce Esher, an agent with Fasy Real Estate in North Wildwood, said the town's image as a party place probably played a big role in keeping land values low for so long.
Bill Haley and His Comets performed "Rock Around the Clock" for the first time at the HofBrau Hotel in 1954. Chubby Checker introduced the Twist at the Rainbow Club in 1960. Dick Clark's "American Bandstand" was first broadcast from the Starlight Ballroom. In his 1963 hit "Wildwood Days," Bobby Rydell sang about "sleepin' on the beach" and "rockin' every night till the early bright."

"We have had that party label on us for a long time," Esher said.

Still, families continued to flock there until the mid-1980s, when the Wildwoods started to lose their allure as those motels that seemed so glamorous in the '60s and '70s began to show their age.

Families began to migrate to quieter shore destinations, such as Cape May and Ocean City, N.J., and the Wildwoods became the place to go for a wild night or weekend.

Bathing in nostalgia:
Revitalization efforts in the '90s centered on preserving the resort's "Doo Wop" style properties, but ultimately those efforts were doomed by economics. With no undeveloped land available, the ground beneath the old family-run motels became worth much more than the rooms that sat on top of it.

"The motel people, the moms and pops, got offered big money," Lauriello said.
Ironically, while many of the motels seem destined to end up in landfills or preserved in a planned Doo Wop Museum, nostalgia seems to be a big catalyst in the Wildwoods condo boom.

The typical Wildwoods buyer is 50 or older, usually with a history of vacationing in the Wildwoods in years past.

"A lot of people who came to the Wildwoods as kids and on vacation are now retiring down here," McCormick said.

Many others are buying the condos as income and investment properties, looking to rent the units during the season to defray mortgage costs as the properties' values appreciate.

That has led to a glut of available rentals that vacationers might take advantage of to get bargain accommodations. Barbara Fasy, of Fasy Real Estate, said owners are accepting offers well below original asking prices to fill unrented weeks.

The seller's market also has slowed somewhat, due to excess inventory and higher interest prices. Although nobody expects values to stop growing, "builders are even taking offers," Fasy said.

Meanwhile, many developers are incorporating the "Doo Wop" theme into new properties. Drawings for two of five proposed 25-story condo-hotel towers planned for areas near Wildwood's convention center show retro influences.

Though some lament the loss of the old motels, Scully said the changes are part of the Wildwoods' ongoing evolution.

"Back in the 1920s they were tearing down fishing shacks to build houses. In the 1940s they tore down houses to build boarding homes. In the '60s they tore down boarding homes to build motels. Now they are tearing down motels to build condos," Scully said.

"The Wildwoods have been very flexible over the years. We have managed to change with the times."

The Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger contributed to this report. CHRIS A. COUROGEN: 975-9784 or ccourogen@patriot-news.com