By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
A Sea Isle City developer who has reshaped the resort’s business landscape with a series of upscale projects combining residential and commercial space is expanding into tony Avalon.
Christopher Glancey has started construction on a mixed-use development at 25th Street and Dune Drive in Avalon’s central business district.
The project will feature four retail shops on the ground level and four luxury condos on the top two floors when completed in the summer of 2023. Each condo will have two parking spots.
“I think it’s going to be a nice addition to the Dune Drive corridor in Avalon,” Glancey said in an interview Tuesday.
Glancey believes his development will be a good fit for the Dune Drive artery as it transforms into a larger shopping district between 22nd and 25th streets.
“It’s good to see that they’re making a central shopping district there in town,” he said. “It’s a good spot to do that project.”
Glancey demolished an old strip mall that formerly occupied the site. He is not yet ready to name the commercial tenants that will occupy his project because he is negotiating the leases.
The project represents Glancey’s first foray into high-end Avalon, where the median list price of homes for sale is $2.9 million, according to Realtor.com.
NJ.com reported that Avalon was ranked third among the 10 most expensive zip codes in New Jersey in 2021 and is one of the top 100 most expensive places in the United States.
The mixed-use project Glancey is developing in Avalon is similar to the type of development he has brought to Sea Isle in recent years. He also owns the Impala Island Inn motel and Impala Suites boutique hotel in Ocean City.
Glancey and business partner Bob Morris made their mark in Sea Isle by orchestrating a retail, restaurant and residential revival in Sea Isle’s sleepy Townsends Inlet section.
They began in 2016 with the trendy Dunes development, a restaurant, banquet and condominium complex on Landis Avenue between 86th and 87th streets. The Dunes site is anchored by the upscale Beachwood at the Dunes restaurant.
Glancey and Morris followed up on the Dunes with two more mixed-use projects in Townsends Inlet called the Cove and the Cape. The three-story buildings, which blend retail, commercial and condo space, are located a block from each other on Landis Avenue between 85th and 87th streets.
In 2018, Glancey and Morris made another splash with their $7.3 million purchase of the LaCosta Lounge, a popular Sea Isle bar that had been a centerpiece of the beach town’s entertainment scene since the 1960s. LaCosta has since been given a sweeping facelift and rebranded as The Ludlam hotel, bar and restaurant complex.
Glancey is developing the Avalon project by himself. With a presence in Avalon, Sea Isle and Ocean City already under his belt, he noted that he may consider developing or acquiring projects in other Cape May County beach towns as part of his Shorebreak Resorts hotel and suites franchise.
“You never know what the future holds,” he said. “With our Shorebreak Resorts brand, we would continue to look in Cape May County.”
One sprawling piece of Avalon property Glancey is not looking to buy is a block of land up for sale in the central business district. It is bordered by Dune Drive, Ocean Drive, 20th Street and 21st Street.
“I have no interest in that,” Glancey said, noting the large size of the property.
Encompassing more than three acres, the property includes the upscale Princeton and Whitebrier bars and restaurants as well as their liquor licenses.
The same block also includes undeveloped land, parking lots and other buildings, according to the sales listing. The sales price has not yet been made public.
