By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
An online auction will be held in March to sell more than one acre of property in Sea Isle City consisting of nine lots that may be developed into single-family homes or duplexes.
Decades ago, the property formerly served as the site of a manufactured gas plant owned by the Jersey Central Power & Light utility company.
A sign attached to a chain-link fence surrounding one of the properties up for sale at the corner of 39th Street and Central Avenue notes its history as a former industrial site by JCP&L.
“Environmental cleanup in progress at this site. Sea Isle City former manufactured gas plant,” the sign says.
Nick Preuhs, a Long & Foster realtor involved with the sale, said the cleanup has been completed by JCP&L, allowing the company to sell the land.
“The remediation is now completed and they’re starting to put the lots up for sale,” he said Monday.
The land is listed for sale on the commercial real estate website LoopNet.com. Altogether, the property consists of 1.19 acres in the area of 39th and Central and 40th and Central, only about a block and a half from Sea Isle’s downtown business district, Promenade and beaches.
“Prospective bidders can look to the investment’s prime location just 1.5 blocks from the beach and the affluent community that surrounds it as benefits of ownership,” the LoopNet listing says. “This is a unique value-add opportunity for a new investor to acquire land as residential rental demand surges across the nation. This portfolio is prime, coastal real estate.”
An online auction is scheduled for March 8-10, 2022. The nine lots will be sold as a package, not individually, according to the listing.
The portfolio is comprised of nine full-size residential/multi-family parcels each ranging from 5,500 square feet to 6,050 square feet, except for two lots at 209-211 40th Street that have been combined to measure a total of 11,000 square feet.
“For purposes of development, each parcel can accommodate a two-unit side-by-side townhome or single-family home, ideal for capturing the upswing in residential rental demand now and into 2022. This location is a very popular destination location for travelers, in addition to residents who reside in this market, to enjoy all coastal amenities,” the listing says.
The land is located in the middle of a residential neighborhood in the shadow of Sea Isle’s municipal water tower.
The largest piece of property included in the sale is a grassy parcel wedged in between existing homes along 40th Street between Central and Cini avenues. It is surrounded by a padlocked chain-link fence.
Another parcel is located at the corner of 39th and Central. This site also includes a padlocked chain-link fence as well as the sign announcing “Environmental cleanup in progress at this site.”
Another smaller parcel that is part of the sale is at the corner of 40th and Central.
In a shore town where many homes are squeezed into tiny lots, more than an acre of land in Sea Isle represents a significant piece of property.
The land is hitting the market at a time when Sea Isle real estate has been red hot. Reflecting a boom fueled by low mortgage rates, a surging stock market and the shore being seen as a safe haven from the COVID-19 pandemic, Sea Isle has now become a million-dollar housing market.
The median sale price for homes in Sea Isle has jumped well above $1 million and shows no signs of significantly slowing down because demand is high and inventory is low, real estate agents pointed out in earlier interviews.
Although the pandemic has had a devastating economic and health impact on so many communities nationwide, it has actually helped to drive the housing market higher at the Jersey Shore.
Homeowners living in crowded urban or suburban areas have fled to the shore, thinking that they can escape from the pandemic. The work-at-home trend that is replacing the traditional office workplace has allowed homebuyers to enjoy their shore retreats even more, realtors say.
