By Maddy Vitale
A legal fight over property at the corner of Bay Avenue and Ninth Street overlooking the main gateway into Ocean City will continue — at least for a couple more weeks.
Superior Court Judge Julio Mendez told the city and the owner of Keller Williams, Paul Chiolo, who has plans to build a corporate office there, to try to reach an agreement, Chiolo said after a hearing in civil court in Atlantic City on Tuesday.
“There is not a conclusion at this point. The judge really didn’t come to any decision,” Chiolo said. “Both sides gave facts as we see it, and the judge, and the attorneys, agreed to take a little bit of time to digest everything and potentially both sides could come to some kind of an agreement. The judge was very open to the parties trying to negotiate and work this out amongst themselves.”
Ocean City spokesman Doug Bergen said the city does not comment on pending litigation. But over the past several months the city has made it clear it wants to seize the property, a vacant lot where an abandoned Exxon gas station used to be, through eminent domain, and use it for open space. Chiolo purchased the property in 2016 for $500,000 and knocked down the old blighted gas station. Since then, the city offered to buy the land for $650,000.
Chiolo received planning board approval to build an approximately 4,900-square-foot corporate office there. The project would include landscaping to the front of the building along Ninth Street and it could serve as a park for joggers and bicyclists using the Route 52 Causeway. It would also include a “pet fountain” for people walking their dogs.
An architectural rendering of the project shows park-like landscaping in front of the proposed office building along Ninth Street.
“We really supplied the park environment that the public was asking for,” Chiolo said of his plans to provide a park-like setting.
Some Council members called Chiolo’s project “a beautiful building,” when he went before the governing body to detail his plan in November. However, the overall decision came down to the public wanting the area to be green space, not another building.
In addition to the Keller Williams site, the city plans to make two former gas station sites across the street into open space. The city bought an old BP station last year for $475,000 and is close to acquiring an old Getty station site next door.
Chiolo remarked that the area is odd for open space. There are businesses in that area, including a paint store. And it is a main route to the beaches, Boardwalk and other attractions in the center of town. He said he will continue to fight for his project and await the next day in court.
He also said he is, and has been, disappointed for “quite some time.”
He said he revised plans for the project according to what was needed for planning board approval. Once he scaled back the project from 7,000 to 4,900 square feet, the city decided to take the property.
“That is the main issue. We had planning board approval and then City Council got together and voted to condemn the property,” Chiolo said.
He said he has been a real estate broker for 31 years and there is a real abuse of eminent domain all over the country.
“It really needs to be looked at because there are real misuses of power. It could be a beachfront home, or a home on a side street,” he said. “The rights of the owners need to be protected.”
Chiolo said he is open to the possibility of selling his property to the city, but his focus is to build his project
.
“Would I be willing to sell it to the city? Yes. Look, that was never the intention,” Chiolo remarked. “It was always the intention to build our headquarters there. That is our goal, and always has been our goal. We still want to build this project.”
Some Council members say the public wants green space, not another building, at the Ninth Street corridor, one of the reasons they want to seize the property through eminent domain.
