beachboy
New Member
doo-in wwc since 1960
Posts: 45
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Post by beachboy on Feb 15, 2005 19:40:49 GMT -5
I know this place as well but I remember a few years ago, it looked like someone was going to do a renovation. It looked like they put new windows on the frontage that faces the boardwalk and if I remember correctly, it appeared that they had building permits on the windows. After that, nothing. Almost like someone started a renovation and couldn't or wouldn't finish. Does anyone else remember this?
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Post by Al Alven on Feb 15, 2005 20:07:16 GMT -5
I remember that as well, beachboy.
In fact, just last winter, there seemed to be renovation-type activity going on at this complex. I guess that nothing ever came of it, though.
My brother seems to think that someone is using the first and/or second retail space at the north end of the complex as some sort of mini-wearhouse or something.
He has told me that he heard the sounds of hammering and electric power tools there (the garage-type doors remain closed) fairly consistely during the daytime last summer.
Every time I passed by, however, the complex was eerily quiet. As far as I'm concerned, the "spirit" of that place died a long time ago.
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Post by FlyinGN on Feb 15, 2005 20:08:26 GMT -5
yes I do.. It kinda looked promising .. then the work stopped and the place fell in dissary soon after like you said..
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Post by jms on Feb 20, 2005 12:15:22 GMT -5
just had to write regarding the Packard Motel. It was an excellent place to stay. Very clean, very well managed. We have been staying there off and on for the last 18 years. We stayed in the same room year after year. I found out on this doo wop web site that it was on the demo list. After crying for awhile, my family and I decided to drive the 700 miles to see it one last time. it was well worth the drive. So many happy memories there. Not much in Wildwood is open in october, (Sam's pizza, Gateway 26 and Douglass's was)all of which are my favorites, but it was worth it just to see it one last time. Thanks for the memories!
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Post by DooWopper on Feb 20, 2005 13:39:04 GMT -5
^This is why the motels are so much more important than the condos.
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Post by Wild Wood on Feb 20, 2005 14:13:55 GMT -5
Why are the motels so much more important than the condos? The condo's are why the City of Wildwood did not go bankrupt in the late 90’s. For each run down boarding house that was torn down 6-8 condo's replaced it. Currently each condo owner is paying at least $5000.00 per year in taxes. Do the math.
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Post by DooWopper on Feb 20, 2005 14:27:09 GMT -5
You obviously don't understand the mechanics of a resort communtiy, especially a dry town like Wildwood. The town has no other buissiness besides that of the motels/hotels and the tourists they attract. The boardwalk which besides the beach is Wildwood's biggest attraction would go bankrupt (not to mention all the buissnesses on it) without the critical mass of motels that are currently there. If you own a condo you own a kitchen, you won't go to the restaraunts, or the boadwalk. I live within 5 minutes of a major amusement park, when was the last time we went there? Like 5 years ago. Only tourists from out of county/state go there anymore. Wildwood has survived on the motels for over 50 years, as have the buisnesses there. The condos are stopping the tourists from coming, thus the local buisness that keep Wildwood alive are dying. And besides, the city makes more money off of the tourist related stuff than condo taxes, especially if they were to have to build new schools, public servecis etc. And by ridding the motels/hotels you are ruining the rich history Wildwood has as New Jerseys true shore resort, and the archetecture which people from Disney World and beyond have studies and used.
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Post by Wild Wood on Feb 20, 2005 14:32:17 GMT -5
I don't understand the mechanics of a resort??
Wildwood is NOT a dry town. Get me a break.
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Post by DooWopper on Feb 20, 2005 14:37:34 GMT -5
Actually, it is classified as one by several different sources. Look at it this way, No motels > no tourists > no boardwalk > no shops, stores > no restaraunts > no nothing excpets cheaply built (yes, cheaply built, the materials were crap that we saw) condos = no more tourism what so ever. Wildwood will then be another dormant sea side town with no character. Also, the amount of vacant condos listed in Wildwood is insane. No one can afford them, yet they continue to build them.
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Post by AnthonyV on Feb 20, 2005 16:10:36 GMT -5
The fact is that the business owners are the one's who will surely miss out with all the motels coming down...Another fact is that motels can be rented and booked by the day or even the weekend and condos are not rented that way.
Ask any major realtor in Wildwood or Wildwood Crest candidly and they'll tell you that the condo craze is more damaging to the resort community than it is productive because it offers possibilities that only motel efficiency renters were used to. My aunt is or at least was one of Daniels most highly regarded realtors and she has nothing positive to say about the condos replacing motels these days because it is getting more and more difficult to book condo rentals on the island. The demand simply is not there right now.
It is a commn fact that regardless of the taxes condo owners pay out, the motels (and boardwalk) were and are the foundation of what Wildwoods commerce and overall business dependency has long been established and relied upon - especially the restaurant industry!
I'm good friends with some of the people at Uries and The Boathouse (where my family docks our boats) and they are truly worried about all the demolition going on. For professional business owners to offer up that kind of concern is a major factor in this situation. But they are justified in their concerns.
By the upsrising of condos and town houses instead of motels more and motre people will be inclined to cook their own meals and eat at home more and more often, thereby neglecting to go out to eat like many motel customers would often do!
Thats' good news for the Shop Rite out on Rio Grande and the Acme on NJ Avenue but it might spell trouble for the restaurantr industry in Wildwood real real soon to a large degree.
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Post by Wild Wood on Feb 20, 2005 17:38:07 GMT -5
Mr. Doo Whopper
The most successful resort in NJ, Ocean City currently has three times the amount of condos as Wildwood does. Both the boardwalk and restaurants are going very well. The problems the merchants are having in Wildwood is not because of the condos. It’s because of the high prices. A slice of pizza cost $3.00, ice cream cone $3.00, and a cup of soda $2.00. Do you know that a 30 second ride on the Nor Easter cost almost $6.00 per person? How can any family regardless where they are staying afford this? You are so quick to blame the condos for all Wildwoods problems. Wildwood has deep seated problems that are going to take years to fix. Do you know that on any given day between 40% and 50% of the students in the high school are absent?
Why are most of the motels discussed on this forum now offering the use barbeque grills to their guest? It’s just too expensive to go out. I suggest you attend the planning board meeting on 2/28. The next phase (25 story motels) of the rebuild of Wildwood is going to be discussed. The city is headed in the right direction it’s just going to take five or more years to get their.
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Post by FlyinGN on Feb 20, 2005 18:42:19 GMT -5
you missed the boat wildwood. The prices for food and such as you discribe are just as expensive in OC as it is in WW.. Whats your point? OUR point is that WE DON'T WANT CONDOS ruining our beautiful 'doo wop' type resort town. You obviously are a condo owner or more likely a condo sales driod and greed is driving you..
Go away
Frank
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Post by DooWopper on Feb 20, 2005 19:12:06 GMT -5
Thank you Frank. The Wildwoods are the only town I have ever seen put up so much resistance to the condo greed craze and so much care for the town and it's motels. I sometimes wonder if the owners of the motels really know how much their places are really loved by the general public. Whatever the story be, it is a fact that the vast majority of tourists, buissness owners, and even relators know that building off Wildwoods past, restoring the existing motels and building new ones in the old style are the answer to Wildwood's success. Think what a great(er) place Wildwood would be if they continued to build off what Steve Izenour (sp) started.
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Post by FlyinGN on Feb 20, 2005 19:18:00 GMT -5
no problem doo wopper. What baffles me is that IF you do not 'subscribe' to what this forum is all about why bother posting your 'flaming' posts and rial everyone up? Its like me posting on the P.I.T.A. forum.. I don't believe in what they do so I don't bother going on there and posting my views.. I'd say ban him:) if he keeps this crap up..
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Post by AnthonyV on Feb 20, 2005 19:34:16 GMT -5
My family has had various financial interests in Wildwood businesses perhaps longer than most of todays condo owners have invested in property down there over recent years (some of which I was too young to really know much about but included the old Diamond Beach Resort Motel, Marie's Flower Shop, Dom's Italian Restaurant which was owned by my godparents Marie & Joe Sciarro, and the Gizmo pizza and hoagie spot near the Andrews Ave station in Wildwood). So I'm more than familiar and informed on the topic of how business is done in the Wildwoods. In fact many of the bulkheads and docks were constructed by my father and his brother while his cousins supplied, mixed, and poured the concrete to build dozens of motel pools throughout Cape May many years ago.
For the record, Wildwood motel's have long been providing outdoor grills to their guests since the early 1960s because many of the motels, especially in Florida, did so for their guests - which was decades before anyone knew what a condo even was.
Also, the price of staying in Wildwood has risen, but it is comparable to that of other popular resorts along the Jersey Shore and far less expensive than other resort destinations a family might pick to vacation - like Disneyworld.
And according to the New State Department of Tourism (where my brothers ex-wife was employed in the public relations department up until 2003) the most successful Jersey Shore resort is not Ocean City - although it is one of the most acclaimed - it is Long Beach Island/Beach Haven and has been so since 1998 simply based on summer rental figures and the speed in which those rentals are booked before spring at a rate of over 68% by the beginning of the summer season.
Why that is exactly I'm not sure since LBI is amazingly laid back and uninteresting compared to other resort towns in NJ.
Ocean City is almost equal in popularity to the Point Pleasant/ Manasquan area according to the Dept of Tourism information - although I'm sure New Jersey Monthly might say otherwise.
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