interesting article in the paper

[shoreb4]

Will regular guy bail as Wildwood upscales?

Bucks County Courier Times

They want to upscale Wildwood, which is like a fast-food joint putting out linen and hiring a wine steward.

For nearly a century Wildwood has been the place on the Jersey shore where a working guy could take his family on a week's summer vacation and not go bust. Now the place has gone condo crazy.

Many of the small, affordable (and dated) motels that lined the seaside are gone. About 30 have been knocked down in three years.

Rising throughout North Wildwood and Wildwood Crest (two of the five municipalities that make up “The Wildwoods”) are beige, vinyl-clad condo rentals that sleep eight, 10 or more for $2,000 a week — and that's a deal.

A recently demolished site in North Wildwood has a sign that even more condos are “Coming Soon.” These will have “Hardwood floors” and “Granite counter tops” — the dcor opiates of the upper middle class masses.

The City of Wildwood, the 26-block commercial heart of the resort community, has approved 10 hotels, from 12 to 25 stories.

On Route 47, the main drag into town, there are plans for a $300 million gated, age-restricted community with concierge service and other highfalutin amenities that enamor aging baby boomers.

The world's biggest dollar store, aka the Wildwood boardwalk, will have its warped, checked boards replaced with exotic “Ipe” wood from Brazil. Even the tram cars will get new tracks.

Wildwood Mayor Ernest Troi-ano Jr. said growth has been as-tonishing. As real estate prices in nearby Stone Harbor and Cape May soared, investors flooded into the Wildwoods, sending prices skyward like a gull on an updraft.

“Three or four years ago you could pick up a house in Wildwood for 30 or 40 thousand dollars. Today, that same house is selling for 300 or 400 thousand,” he said.

Go-go growth is needed to support Wildwood's ambitions.

“We want to become the entertainment capital of the [Jersey barrier] islands,” the mayor said.

The city estimates it needs to book about 22,000 “room nights” a year to support the sleek, beach-front Wildwood Convention Center, which seats 7,500.

“With this we can become a 10- or 11-month town, instead of just a three- or four-month town,” he said.

Real estate agents I spoke with said Wildwood “is on fire.”

One showed me a project for the “new” boardwalk which he said will have — egad — a Star-bucks, a high-end ice-cream shop and wi-fi cafes for laptop geeks.

“We want the guy who makes $100,000 to $150,000 to come here. It's beachfront property, it's premium, and the last I checked, God ain't makin' any more of it,” one agent told me.

I asked several real estate agents and the mayor if all this upscaling will cause Wildwood to turn its back on its bread-and-butter clientele, that is, cops, firemen, nurses and middle management working stiffs making between $45,000 and $65,000.

The real estate people were unconcerned (“That's the market. Go somewhere else,” one said).

Mayor Troiano said Wildwood will always have room for “every income level.”

“Are we going to appeal to a higher class crowd in some respects? Yes. But we will always be the place to go whether you have a $100 in your pocket or $100,000,” he said.

Note to Wildwood upscalers: There will always be many more people with $100 in their pockets than those with $100,000. That's the market. Ignore it at your peril.

[fuzzyscorpio]

Shoreb4, I'm really glad you flagged this. It's a hip, incisive little piece of journalism that neatly wraps up the direction that Wildwood has taken, IMO, with North Wildwood and the Crest stumbling blindly along behind.

Note this excerpt, especially:

“We want to become the entertainment capital of the [Jersey barrier] islands,” the mayor said.

The city estimates it needs to book about 22,000 “room nights” a year to support the sleek, beach-front Wildwood Convention Center, which seats 7,500.

“With this we can become a 10- or 11-month town, instead of just a three- or four-month town,” he said.

That convention center was basically a big middle finger to the Wildwoods' core clientele. Gotta love the editorial comment in the last paragraph

[wildwood4life]

Just proved to me that my hypothesis was right......

[wildwood4life]

Anyone else cringe when they drive by Oceanside Reality

[thelastresort]

They just sound like pompous, arrogant b-stards to me.

[wildwanderer]

It's called $$$.

[writhinganacondo]

Note that guys stat: "30 motels gone in 3 yrs." More like 150 in 5 yrs. Also he quotes mostly real estate agents, what would you expect them to say down here besides their idiotic snake-oil salesman remarks. Ohhh, a "high-end ice cream shop!"

[thelastresort]

writhinganacondo said:

Note that guys stat: "30 motels gone in 3 yrs." More like 150 in 5 yrs. Also he quotes mostly real estate agents, what would you expect them to say down here besides their idiotic snake-oil salesman remarks. Ohhh, a "high-end ice cream shop!"

right, like I mentioned in a previous post about that extended commercial about "Coastal Colors" when the salesman keeps saying "exciting this" "excited that" "we're excited" etc. Yes, it's very exciting making money, or should I say, suckering people out of their money.

[Al Alven]

Slightly off topic perhaps, but I really don't see the problem with "high end" shops appearing on the Boardwalk.

I know that most people (myself included) aren't completely wild about the idea of chains coming in, for instance, but I would honestly rather see a Starbucks or a Cold Stone come in and take the place of a few of the real "low end" shops that populate the Boards.

Honestly, I consider Groff's a "high end" restaurant. How could you not? And yet, it's been there longer than most any institution up on (or just off of) the Boardwalk, and has been very successful and well-patronized.

As for some of the newer places, the Cook's Shoppe (or however it's spelled) is a nice addition, as is the "new" Sand Jamm and Magic Brain Cafe. These are nice, quality entities that serve the "middle class" and "upscale" crowds, and fill some of the Boardwalk's needs.

The 'Walk is never going to become an end-to-end "big name" chain strip mall, but a little balance would be good.

[Doowopper]

I see nothing wrong with some more places like the Sand Jamm. It's new and modern, but it's also screaming Wildwood with plastic palms and blinding neon. All in all it's a great place. The boardwalk needs a little help in places. T-shirt shop after t-shirt shop with foul language and sexual comments one after another gets very tireing.

I think they overdid the whole "exotic Ipe wood" on the bordwalk thing as well. For goodness sake it's friggen wood, they aren't making the boardwalk out of gold or marble. That's not upscaling, that's doing repairs that should have been done a while ago, without putting that fake synthetic crap down instead of wood.

The towns can use some upscaling in parts, you could even consider updated motels like the Caribbean and Starlux "upscale". The fact is Wildwood will most liekly never be as upscale as the realtors want you to think. Wildwood ain't no Turk's and Caico's and it never will be.

[fuzzyscorpio]

wildwood4life said:

Anyone else cringe when they drive by Oceanside Reality

Spawn of the devil... But Hizzoner and company are equally to blame, from the looks of it.

[fuzzyscorpio]

thelastresort said:

They just sound like pompous, arrogant b-stards to me.

“We want the guy who makes $100,000 to $150,000 to come here. It's beachfront property, it's premium, and the last I checked, God ain't makin' any more of it,” one agent told me.

Bottom-feeders one and all (well, almost). I really don't know why we give lawyers so much s**t--the real estate industry deserves an equally hefty portion.

[fuzzyscorpio]

alalven said:

I would honestly rather see a Starbucks or a Cold Stone come in and take the place of a few of the real "low end" shops that populate the Boards.

I hate Cold Stone. You can't even get an ingredient breakdown on their Web site, and that tells you--if you couldn't tell by looking at the products--that they are full of synthetic nonnutritive crap. Wildwood doesn't need that. If they want upscale, what they need is a unique, Wildwood-born-and-bred ice cream parlor offering premium quality homemade (read ON THE PREMISES) ice cream. Like Duffer's, but better, right on the boards.

The chains are more spawn of the devil. Look at NYC. Mayor Bloomberg, great worshipper of commerce that he is, has let all kinds of chain junk in there on his watch, and as a result, NYC has become a far less interesting place. Some of these politicians behave like addicts when it comes to adding shiny new stuff to their tax base. If you can't stop, you shouldn't start. I don't participate in the great popular pastime of Starbucks-bashing, and I'd be delighted to have one on the boardwalk, but I wouldn't trust Troiano and company to know where to draw the line after that .

Honestly, I consider Groff's a "high end" restaurant. How could you not? And yet, it's been there longer than most any institution up on (or just off of) the Boardwalk, and has been very successful and well-patronized.

Right. Everybody with big bucks is ready to build condos but no one is prepared to invest in the establishment of high quality INDEPENDENT shops and services? I can't believe that. Wildwood should hold out for the Groff's model. God forbid that boardwalk ever starts to look like Willowbrook Mall. What's the point? Why wouldn't visitors want to take a break from the same old cookie-cutter retail they have back home? People love the one-of-a-kind shops down in Cape May (well, the womenfolk do anyhow ;D). The Wildwoods have always had their own distinctive character. They ought to be fighting like hell to hold on to what's left of it and build on it anew.

As for some of the newer places, the Cook's Shoppe (or however it's spelled) is a nice addition, as is the "new" Sand Jamm and Magic Brain Cafe. These are nice, quality entities that serve the "middle class" and "upscale" crowds, and fill some of the Boardwalk's needs.

Al, have you looked at the price tags on stuff in Sand Jamm? More upscaling. And it's so phony. Most of the people who visit down there aren't real surfers and those who are bring their gear with them, I'm sure. And that building is so big and intrusive. It shouldn't have been built on the beach side of the boards, IMO--it belongs on the west side. I also think it's a bad model for that type of retailing on the boards. I buy at least one garment on every visit that says "Wildwood" somewhere, I'll keep doing it as long as I keep visiting, and I wear them, frequently. That habit should be cultivated. I'd like to see the boardwalk get a high-quality Wildwoods souvenir shop--hell, I'd like to open one (in my next life probably...). Part of my dislike of Sand Jamm is all that branded clothing. Sand Jamm should be promoting the Wildwood "brand," instead of Wildwood promoting the Sand Jamm brand.

I share your concern about the need for the boardwalk to be updated and upgraded a bit, but I think it's crucial that it be done with a high level of discrimination.

[cutietnj]

See the problem with chain stores opening up in WW is that I can get that stuff at home. I like Cold Stone (sorry Fuzzy ) and there is one 10 minutes from my house. When I go to WW I want things I can't get at home like Kohr's or Sea Shell ice cream.
I did check out Sand Jam and the exact same flip flops I was wearing were selling for $5 more than I purchased them at Garden State Plaza.

[tbear]

I stopped in the Cook's Shoppe last week and loved it. Their coffee was excellent and a reasonable price for specialty flavored coffee. We bought it, had it ground and the next morning at our hotel we enjoyed it! They have a different type of souviner selection than most of the shops on the boardwalk. It is nice to see something new. We were speaking with the owners and they are there from March through December and have mail order 12 months of the year. I can't wait to go back in October to get more Pumpkin Spice coffee and maybe something for the Christmas holidays.