Ocean City subcommittee studies options for Boardwalk's commercial zones

Some residents of Ocean City want a new amusement park built in place of the former Wonderland Pier on the Boardwalk. Others support a proposal for a luxury hotel. Still others are hoping for a mix of the two.

However, the ones calling for a new amusement park are likely to be disappointed.

Members of a City Council subcommittee studying options for the Boardwalk’s development made it clear during a community meeting Saturday that another amusement park in place of Wonderland Pier is highly improbable.

“It’s not a trending thing in New Jersey to go and open up amusement parks,” City Councilman Jody Levchuk, a member of the subcommittee, told the audience.

Dean Adams, an Ocean City planning board member who also sits on the subcommittee, said that even experts in the amusement industry don’t believe that another amusement park would work at the former Wonderland site.

“What I can tell you is that the picture is very, very bleak,” Adams said. “From a business standpoint, it doesn’t look good at all.”

The nine-member subcommittee met with the public for more than two hours Saturday to present its findings so far as it analyzes the Boardwalk’s commercial zones from Sixth Street to 14th Street.

In all, there are 168 businesses in that area of the Boardwalk. They consist of 92 restaurants or food establishments, 51 retail shops and 25 entertainment attractions.

“Entertainment is the smallest (segment). That really kind of stuck out,’’ said City Councilman Dave Winslow, the subcommittee chairman. “We don’t have as much entertainment as we should have.”

Winslow emphasized that the subcommittee is in the fact-finding stage at this point and isn’t expected to make formal recommendations about entertainment or any other aspects of the Boardwalk plan until May.

A copy of the presentation slides is available at Ocean City Boardwalk Subcommittee Community Meeting.

Winslow characterized the subcommittee’s work as a “factual analysis to take the emotion out of it.”

“We all have a sense of urgency in getting this done,” he said of the subcommittee completing its work and making recommendations to City Council.

The subcommittee is taking what its members say is a “holistic approach” toward studying the Boardwalk’s commercial zoning needs in concert with Ocean City’s master plan – not just focusing only on the former Wonderland Pier site.

But questions about Wonderland’s future development prompted Council President Terry Crowley Jr. to form the subcommittee in October.

Developer Eustace Mita, owner of the upscale ICONA resorts at the Jersey Shore, wants to build a $150 million luxury hotel at the Wonderland property, but has not yet been able to line up city support.

Mita brought Wonderland in 2021 for a reported $14 million after Mayor Jay Gillian, the owner of the amusement park, defaulted on an $8 million mortgage. Mita allowed Gillian to continue operating the park until it closed in October 2024 following years of financial difficulties.

Mita’s hotel proposal has bitterly divided the community for the past year as debate has swirled about the future of the Wonderland parcel. Hotel supporters believe that the project would be a catalyst for more tourism and business, while opponents claim it would overwhelm the surrounding neighborhoods and not blend in with Ocean City’s family-friendly image.

    An architectural rendering depicts the proposed resort hotel on the Ocean City Boardwalk.
  

Community groups such as Ocean City 2050 and Save Wonderland have endorsed the idea of replacing Wonderland with another amusement-style attraction instead of a luxury hotel.

Ocean City 2050 has proposed a competing plan called “Wonderland Commons,” a multifaceted project would feature a smaller, more compact amusement park, a digital entertainment center, public attractions such as a band shell for live music, and a low-rise boutique hotel.

Jim Kelly, president of Ocean City 2050, is another member of the Boardwalk subcommittee. However, Kelly did not make comments at the subcommittee meeting about the prospects of developing a new amusement park at the Wonderland site.

Save Wonderland has unveiled conceptual renderings for a proposed development that would transform the vacant property into a modern amusement park and events center incorporating some of Wonderland’s historic rides

The subcommittee looked at seven New Jersey coastal communities that have seaside amusement parks, including Ocean City. Levchuk said that 1984 was the last time a seaside amusement park opened anywhere in New Jersey, underscoring the challenges of the amusement business.

Levchuk, whose family owns the Jilly’s brand of retail and arcade businesses on the Boardwalk, expressed serious doubts that another amusement park could take the place of Wonderland.

“There’s all different challenges that go into doing this, which is why you see, just looking at the data, nobody’s opening up these types of places,” he said.

He cited the high cost of labor, liability insurance and New Jersey’s regulatory requirements for amusement parks as headwinds. He also said that amusement parks in Jersey Shore resort towns other than Ocean City sell alcohol or have bars nearby and also offer legalized games of chance.

    City Councilman Jody Levchuk, right, addresses the audience while fellow subcommittee member Jim Kelly listens.
  

Ocean City is a dry town that does not sell alcohol beverages. It also does not have games of chance on the Boardwalk. By not having alcohol sales or games of chance, the amusement business in Ocean City is at a “huge disadvantage," Levchuk said.

Levchuk, though, emphasized that as a councilman, he would never support legalizing alcohol sales or games of chance in Ocean City.

“They’ll never be available in Ocean City,” he said.

The subcommittee’s meeting also focused at times on Mita’s proposed hotel and how it might affect the Boardwalk, as well as the surrounding neighborhoods.

Some members of the audience expressed their opposition to the hotel proposal, while others maintained that the project would be crucial for reviving the north end of the Boardwalk where Wonderland Pier once operated for nearly 60 years.

Mark Raab, whose family is a major owner of Boardwalk properties, said a new hotel is desperately needed to reverse the trend of store closings and business tenants pulling out – particularly in the surrounding area near Wonderland at Sixth Street. Raab urged the subcommittee to move quickly in making its recommendations for the Boardwalk’s development options.

“We really do need to move this forward,” Raab said. “I tell you that we’re going to have irreversible damage if something is not done before this upcoming season,” Raab said.

Winslow said that nothing would be built on the Wonderland property this year, but promised that the subcommittee will make its recommendations for the Boardwalk’s commercial zones as soon as possible.

    The facade of the former Wonderland Pier amusement park overlooks the Boardwalk at Sixth Street.
  

Some of the homeowners in the historic Plaza Place and Pelham Place neighborhoods, in the shadow of the Wonderland property, said they felt that the subcommittee hasn’t reached out to them to get their feedback about the hotel or the Boardwalk’s future.

“I don’t feel we have any representation at all,” Plaza Place resident Marie Crawford said.

The subcommittee members promised the Plaza Place and Pelham Place residents that they will be included in the community engagement for the Boardwalk plan.

“Community engagement is really important,” said City Councilman Sean Barnes, another member of the subcommittee.

Carol Marceluk, another Plaza Place resident, said she fears a large hotel would block out the sun and ocean views for the neighborhood and cause other negative impacts.

“It’s terrible,” Marceluk said in an interview after the subcommittee meeting.

The meeting stretched on for two hours and 15 minutes at the Ocean City Free Public Library lecture hall. The room was largely filled with members of the public.

The subcommittee’s presentation largely concentrated on demographic data and business trends, including Ocean City’s population, hotel occupancy rates, housing values and median income levels.

One point that jumped out was the belief that Wonderland’s closing was the cause of a major decline in revenue in 2025 from the city’s Boardwalk parking lot between Fifth and Sixth streets.

Adams indicated that one of the subcommittee’s recommendations may be for the city to lower the parking fees to create an additional incentive for families and tourists to visit Ocean City.

    The audience nearly packs the lecture hall room at the Ocean City Free Public Library.