Government

Townhome Development to Replace Former Seaside Heights Motel

by
Daniel Nee
April 21, 2023

The former site of the Belmont Motel in Seaside Heights, N.J. (Photo: Borough of Seaside Heights)

Seaside Heights officials this week voted unanimously in favor of putting forward a rehabilitation plan that would convert a former derelict motel to a new townhome community.

The Belmont Motel, which had been located north of the borough’s police department at 128 Sheridan Avenue, was torn down with the help of grant funding the state had provided the borough to allow for the razing of public and private properties that had fallen into blight. The motel has been demolished and the land on which it formally stood is now vacant.

The motel property is not a formally-declared are in need of redevelopment and remains under private ownership. It does qualify, however, as part of the borough-wide declaration of a “rehabilitation area,” which provides some latitude in terms of planning for what will be built there. While the borough will be able to choose a redeveloper for the project, it cannot be taken by eminent domain under its current designation.

The Belmont Motel, slated for demolition in Seaside Heights, N.J., Dec. 2021. (Photo: Daniel Nee)

“The redevelopment plan for the former Belmont Motel property is a townhome project,” said Borough Administrator Christopher Vaz.

A copy of that plan, obtained by Shorebeat, indicates that permitted uses within the property’s zone are multifamily housing units, with accessory structures allowed in the form of off-street parking and loading areas, as well as “amenities customarily incidental to multi-family or townhouse residential uses.”

Prohibited uses include nightclubs, bars, taverns, massage parlors, tattoo shops, fortune tellers, sexually-oriented businesses and drive-through facilities such as a bank kiosk or fast food restaurants.

Overall, the property is rectangular in shape with a depth of 100 feet and 180 feet of frontage along Sheridan Avenue. The parcel has an area of approximately 18,000 square feet and 0.413 acres.

The borough council will next solicit a redeveloper through a state-mandated process, at which point proposals will be submitted and the governing body will decide how to move forward.