By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Sea Isle City’s trend for mixed-use development projects shows no signs of slowing down.
The latest project that would combine commercial and residential space in the same building was scheduled to come before the Planning Board on Tuesday night for consideration. However, the board did not have a quorum, so the project will be heard at the Nov. 14 meeting.
Just last month, the Planning Board approved two other mixed-use projects proposed within a block of each other in the heart of downtown – one at 4118 Landis Ave. and the other at 30 42nd Street.
At its Nov. 14 meeting, the board will consider a mixed-use project for the corner of 85th Street and Landis Avenue in the Townsends Inlet section.
The development group ENR Investments LLC of Swainton plans to demolish an old home at 8505 Landis Ave. to make room for a three-story project that would include commercial space on the first two floors and a residential unit on the third.
In recent years, the modest two-story home at 8505 Landis Ave., which was built in 1900, has been the focus of a series of redevelopment plans.
Consideration has been given to possibly renovating the house to save it, tearing it down to build a new home or redeveloping the property for a mixed-use project. Ultimately, the developer decided to go with a mixed-use project, but has been tweaking the plans.
As recently as August, ENR Investments had filed an application with the Planning Board to build a project that would have included commercial space on the first floor and one residential unit occupying the second and third stories. The second and third stories were supposed to serve as the “O’Neill residence,” according to the architectural renderings.
But the latest plans filed with the Planning Board in September indicate that commercial space will now occupy the first two floors and that a residential unit would occupy only the third story.
Architectural drawings for the proposed mixed-use project show that part of it would serve as the "O'Neill residence."
ENR’s principal is identified in Planning Board documents as Brian O’Neill, a local developer who has teamed up with his father, Michael O’Neill, in MJ Builders & Development Group, a Sea Isle-based company that specializes in residential construction.
The O’Neills could not be reached for comment.
Andrew Previti, the city engineer, said in a report to the Planning Board that ENR will need a zoning variance in order to build the project on an undersized lot. Another variance will be required for minimum lot depth, according to Previti’s report.
The ENR project represents the type of development that has become popular in Sea Isle ever since the city changed its zoning laws in 2008 to encourage mixed-use construction.
In recent years, a number of old homes have been demolished to make way for mixed-use projects, which combine commercial space such as restaurants and retail shops on the first floor with condos on the top two stories.
The mixed-use project at 30 42nd Street approved last month by the Planning Board will replace a Victorian-era house dating to 1900. Lawrence Lane, the owner of the three-story home, has raised the possibility of selling the old house for a nominal price to someone who would save it by moving it to another location.
Meanwhile, the Planning Board’s approval last month for a mixed-use project at 4118 Landis Ave. clears the way for redevelopment of vacant property in the center of downtown.
The property overlooks the corner of Landis Avenue and 42nd Street. It has been vacant ever since two stores that formerly occupied the site were destroyed by fire in 2016.
For years, a faded old red truck with the words “Sea Isle City” written on the side has been parked on the property, serving as an odd landmark in the downtown business district.
An architectural rendering depicts what a proposed mixed-use project will look like when built at 4118 Landis Ave. in the heart of downtown. (Image courtesy of James Burger)
