By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
The retail shops, restaurants and real estate offices on Landis Avenue will soon be joined by an imposing new development that is much larger than anything that surrounds it and represents what one observer calls a new “defining look” for the center of town.
Called BeachSide Villas, the three-story complex dominates the block of 42nd Street in the heart of Sea Isle City’s business district along the Landis Avenue corridor.
The development will combine commercial space on the street level with 12 luxury condominiums on the top two floors, according to Bill McGinn, a broker with RE/MAX Beach Home Realty who is marketing the property.
McGinn said the project will transform the downtown area when it is completed this fall by developers A&L LLC. The development group includes Sea Isle businessmen Angelo Camano, the owner of Angelo’s Ristorante & Pizzeria, and Lou Feola, the owner of CMC Air Conditioning & Heating.
“It’s a defining look for the center of town,” McGinn said. “I think it sets the bar for any future development in town.”
The project is being built on a site formerly occupied by the Creighton’s Trading Post hardware store, which was destroyed by fire in 2005.
It reflects a growing trend in Sea Isle of new mixed-use developments that combine commercial space such as restaurants and retail shops on the first floor with upscale condos on the second and third stories.
Two blocks away, at the corner of 44th Street and Landis Avenue, Pennsylvania restaurateur Anthony Foster is building a smaller mixed-use project. It features six condos on the second and third floors. A satellite version of Anthony’s Ristorante owned by Foster in Drexel Hill, Pa., will open on the ground floor of the development next year.
Sea Isle developers Christopher Glancey and Bob Morris are proposing to redevelop the 50-year-old LaCosta Lounge at the corner of Landis Avenue and John F. Kennedy Boulevard into a 46-suite hotel that will feature a restaurant, banquet space and outdoor bar.
They hope to start construction late this year or in early 2020 and have the new hotel ready for the 2021 summer season. LaCosta Lounge would be demolished to make room for the project.
BeachSide Villas, meanwhile, will include enough commercial space for three businesses. McGinn said the first retail outlet to be signed is Duck Donuts, a national chain known for customized doughnuts that are made as customers watch.
“With the other two commercial units, we have a lot of interest. I think the city will be happy with the new retail attractions,” McGinn said, noting that shopping is a key part of Sea Isle’s strategy to draw tourists.
The development’s 12 high-end condos will range in price from $699,000 to $898,000 and are just now hitting the market. They will range from three bedrooms to five-bedroom units, offering 1,450 to 2,100 square feet of living space.
“These are pure luxury condos,” McGinn said. “There’s a nice smorgasbord of options.”
As the developers, Camano and Feola were meticulous about the project’s design and construction, including their desire to make it storm-proof on a barrier island vulnerable to nor’easters and flooding, McGinn explained.
“They wanted it as storm-proof as possible. They spent a pretty penny on the makeup and design of the building. It’s a gorgeous building,” said McGinn, who did not disclose the development cost.
The BeachSide Villas project is compatible with a 2008 change in Sea Isle’s zoning law that allows businesses to rebuild commercial properties while adding more residential space.
The idea behind the zoning change was to encourage businesses to stay put in town, rather than seeing them disappear to make room for even more housing.
McGinn predicted the BeachSide Villas complex will help dramatically reshape Sea Isle’s downtown business district by leading a new wave of commercial-residential development on Landis Avenue.
“It’s setting a new standard for commercial construction. The luxury condos are going to set a new standard, too,” he said.
