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Talks to Bring Noted Developer’s ‘Beachfront Oasis’ Hotel to Seaside Heights Progress

by
Daniel Nee
July 11, 2024

The rendering of a hotel proposed for Lincoln Avenue and Ocean Terrace in Seaside Heights, N.J., July. 2024. (Photo: 6M Development)

A major developer from the Boston area has signaled continuing interest in building a major hotel to the Seaside Heights oceanfront, with more information about the potential project having been revealed recently.

Last week, the borough council held a closed session discussion over the proposal by 6M Seaside LLC, a company owned by major developer William Caulder, based in Boston, to build a 180-room hotel and banquet facility at Lincoln Avenue and Ocean Terrace. The area where the hotel would be constructed was formally designated late last year as an area in need of redevelopment, a key measure that would allow the hotel to be built to agreed-upon specifications set by the borough council. Business records show 6M Seaside has acquired the properties where the hotel would be located.

The redevelopment area consists of sites of the Surfside, Glendale and Dry Dock motels. Another small lot in between two of the properties was also recommended to be formally declared part of the area, since its location makes it necessary for redevelopment to occur.

Details on the meeting were confidential, Mayor Anthony Vaz said, however they appeared on the agenda for a work session the council held July 3. Vaz said the meeting discussed numerous aspects of 6M’s proposal, including the terms of a potential redevelopment agreement. Even with such discussions having been held – a common practice with major projects – the council would be required to place to redevelopment plan out for public bid. The owner of the property, however, would naturally have a leg up in consideration.

The rendering of a hotel proposed for Lincoln Avenue and Ocean Terrace in Seaside Heights, N.J., Oct. 2023. (Photo: Mike Loundy)

A sample marketing deck for the hotel advertises that it “offers a perfect blend of modern elegance and coastal charm.” The document states the hotel would include a “sleek design, panoramic ocean views, and top-notch amenities including a rooftop pool and beachfront dining” and would also include a banquet facility for weddings and major events.

Caulder, for his part, is a well-known developer based in Boston whose company, 6M Development, has been responsible for major undertakings up and down the Boston-to-Washington D.C. corridor. Notably, his company has received approval to build a five-story, 134-room boutique hotel on Boston’s north end, a major housing development on a pier at the Boston Navy Yard site, as well as the mixed-use Seville Boston Harbor complex which incorporates housing and retail uses along the city’s Meridian Street corridor.

Vaz said the prospect of a modern hotel opening in Seaside Heights would fit into the borough’s overall redevelopment plans to bring more families to the resort town and furthers the overall goal of shedding the borough’s reputation as the nightclub capital portrayed on MTV’s “Jersey Shore” in favor of a more traditional, family-friendly Shore community.

“There doesn’t seem to be any stumbling blocks,” he said. “These are major developers who have designed places in Boston, here in New Jersey and in other locations. The outcry is that we’re losing motels – many of them in bad shape – and this would bring us something out of a magazine.”

The motel property at 200 Ocean Terrace, Seaside Heights, N.J., where redevelopment is under consideration. (Photo: Shorebeat)

The Glendale Motel and Surfside Motel, Lincoln Avenue, Seaside Heights, Aug. 2023. (Photo: Shorebeat)

The location of the new hotel at 200 Ocean Terrace would primarily replace the Surfside Motel, which according to county property records was built in 1971 and encompasses a 24,000 square-foot parcel which consists of three lots. The other two motels in the redevelopment area, the Glendale and Dry Dock, plus a small property midway between them, would come together to form the footprint of the new hotel, which would have sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean and the lights of the boardwalk.

A local supporter of the effort to bring a new, large hotel to Seaside Heights is local real estate broker Mike Loundy, who backed the redevelopment designation when it came before the planning board and council last year.

Loundy, who owns Seaside Realty, said at the time that nearly half of the borough’s outdated motels have been either approved for, or are in the process of, redevelopment. Long seen as businesses that were often unkempt and attracted a troublesome clientele, the motels are being replaced primarily by condominiums and townhomes, but a major, modern hotel would restore short-term rooms for guests in a clean, safe environment.

“This is a game-changer, it’s a beautiful project that will bring in more than 150 hotel rooms, give or take, a spa and the ability to have large events there and a restaurant,” said Loundy. “It’ll have beautiful ocean views and it will add a facet to the city that we haven’t had in the past.”

The rendering of a hotel proposed for Lincoln Avenue and Ocean Terrace in Seaside Heights, N.J., Oct. 2023. (Photo: Mike Loundy)

The hotel, should it be approved in the future, would bring “an exceptional experience that captures the essence of the Jersey Shore,” 6M’s marketing proposal stated.

There are no certain dates as to when the hotel may be formally proposed before the planning board, or when a redevelopment agreement will be advertised and voted on by the council, however the discussions between 6M and the borough have clearly progressed, with indications an agreement could be hatched in the near future.

“The Seaside Heights hotel will fill a lodging shortage,” 6M’s description went on to say. “The current area has no hotel options in an area that has a 65,000 person population in the summer. We will also bring a wedding venue to the area to help extend the town’s season.”