A historic town on the Jersey Shore is on the verge of getting its first new hotel in a half-century.
Luxury resort brand Icona is planning a 160-key hotel at the site of the former Beach Theater property, NJ.com reported. Eustace Mita, president of Icona, purchased the out-of-use property in 2019 for $6.6 million.
The $150 million hotel would include 160 rooms, three restaurants and several shops. But Icona has created controversy by attempting to circumvent the town’s typical development process.
The developer plans to ask for the property to be declared a redevelopment site. If that distinction is approved, Icona could deal directly with the city council rather than having to deal with independent bodies for individual zoning, planning, historic preservation and the environment.
Not everyone would be happy about that.
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“I want people to all play by the same rules,” Mayor Zachary Mullock told the publication. “….To all of a sudden scrap that process makes zero sense to me.”
However, one of those rules is that redevelopment has a different process. The question is whether Icona’s project qualifies as one.
Icona has already reduced its scope in response to negative feedback. The planned five-star hotel initially was to include 200 rooms, but that number was cut by 20 percent. The project still includes 11 stores and 22 parking spaces, some of which will be able to be used by the public.
The additional hotel rooms could help the community meet demand during tourism season, when the regular population of 3,500 swells to about 100,000. From 1990 to 2020, the community lost approximately 200 hospitality rooms, according to the local Chamber of Commerce. Cape May also lost roughly 50 bed & breakfasts over that time.
The development could raise concerns about the town’s water usage, which is already over capacity. The council is considering whether building a $30 million cost desalination plant would help bring it in compliance with state regulations.
— Holden Walter-Warner