Crest Tries to Stop Losses

[johnnyd5555]

Wildwood Crest attempts to stem loss of motels
WILLIAM H. SOKOLIC
Courier-Post

Courier-Post Staff WILDWOOD CREST

As part of efforts to stem the loss of motels, the borough -- in conjunction with the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority -- hired an engineering and planning company to study the situation.

The work done by Vollmer Associates, funded with $30,000 in CRDA money and matched by Wildwood Crest, should be finished next month.

The borough has lost 20 motels in the recent past.

"We wanted to know what can be done to slow the demolitions," said Karlis Povisils, director of policy research for the CRDA and project manager for the study.

Among questions expected to be answered: how the lodging industry fares in the marketplace; how that will change in the future in terms of the length of the season, and the condition and status of the motels.

"A lot of the buildings do not have the amenities needed to be competitive," said Jeremy Alvarez, director of planning for the Philadelphia office of Vollmer Associates.

Owners would like to expand and modify their properties, but they face administrative and regulatory constraints from state and local authorities, he said.

"We're using a panel of locals to come up with a draft set of recommendations," Alvarez said. "The time for pointing fingers is over. We hope to emerge with a proposal for action by CAFRA and the State Historic preservation office. Do they need to do things differently? What does the municipality need to do? What things can motel owners do? It'll be a recipe book with a variety of things."

Owners might need tax credits, Povisils said. Local restrictions on signage may need to be lifted, or federal assistance may be necessary.

Correcting tax inequities may be another avenue, he said.

For example, motel visitors have to pay an occupancy tax but condo guests do not.

But don't expect a silver-bullet solution, Povisils said.

"Maybe nothing can be done," he said. "If nothing can be done, we want to know."

The Wildwood Crest-CRDA study is just one avenue in the march toward preservation.

Earlier this year, the National Trust for Historic Preservation designated the Wildwoods motel collection as one of the 11 most endangered historic sites.

"Hopefully, the designation will be a wake-up call to those who can make a difference with this effort," said Jack Morey, founder of the Doo Wop Preservation League, which trumpets efforts to save the motels.

North Wildwood is reviewing policies to see what can be done to encourage condo units to return to the pool in the form of "condotels."

"We've had some discussions about an overlay zone to make it more attractive," said city administrator Raymond A. Townsend.

Reach William H. Sokolic at [phone] or [e-mail]

[writhinganacondo]

Old news, quotes and the wrong stats again. Yet another "study". This is 2006, not 2001. "Wildwood Crest attempts to stem the loss of motels". !!!!! How out out of touch with reality can these articles get?

[thelastresort]

"We wanted to know what can be done to slow the demolitions"

Have a city counsel with some cajones to pass a moratorium. Happens all the time, all over the country.

[Al Alven]

Same old, same old... and it's too little, too late.

How many studies have to be done on this situation? It all just seems like public posturing, while the demolitions continue...

[thelastresort]

Don't feel bad, Al, it's been going on for thousands of years...

www.wisdc.org/images/neroblue.gif

[Al Alven]

thelastresort said:

Don't feel bad, Al, it's been going on for thousands of years...

www.wisdc.org/images/neroblue.gif

Haha... so true... so true...

[MMM]

I'd like to see the occupancy tax go away, and have the town find other ways to offset the loss, though not with a property tax increase...

[JerseyDigger29]

writhinganacondo said:

Old news, quotes and the wrong stats again. Yet another "study". This is 2006, not 2001. "Wildwood Crest attempts to stem the loss of motels". !!!!! How out out of touch with reality can these articles get?

We have talked about this guy, Sokolic, several times in the past and how out of touch he is with the Wildwoods, and how his information and quotes are either misleading at best, or completely inaccurate at worst. And what bothers me more than his articles themselves is the fact that some of us on this board continue to quote the guy's stories.

I'll say it again: I think the guy writes stories about us just so he can get a trip to the shore. He comes down here - if he does come at all - does a couple of unrelated and disjointed interviews or phonecalls, and tries to blend them into a story.

He mentions Wildwood Crest but the whole thrust of the story is about CRDA and CAFRA. Then at the very end, he completely wanders away from the loss of hotels in Wildwood Crest and tries to tie in North Wildwood's effort to restore its stock of hotel rooms.

I think the bit he is talking about at the end, where he mentions the overlay district and how NW is trying to "enourage condo units to return to the pool in the form of condotels" has nothing to do with the loss of hotel rooms, especially in Wildwood Crest.

North Wildwood is NOT trying to encourage "condos to become condotels." What they are doing is creating a new TRR zone on the east side of town in which new condotels may be built up to a height of 150'. These condotels - just like in Wildwood - are being encouraged in order to solve the shortage of HOTEL ROOMS and PARKING. The condotels will ALL include a mixture of residential condos as well as units that MUST be rented as transient hotel rooms.

Turning condo units into condotels is totally misleading and inaccurate. IMO, Sokolic is clueless! Please don't let his articles bother you... unless, of course, he eventually gets one right. ;D

Thom

[hulk007]

Something else that I found bothersome. In one of the real estate magazines there was an article about the doo-wop style of the wildwoods. The motel sign pictured in the front of the article was of sign for the Satellite. Do they not know this place came down several years ago?

[Rob Ascough]

They probably know but don't care. It makes a great advertisement, despite the fact that it doesn't exist anymore. It's like how Six Flags commercials rarely show rides that are at the park they're advertising.

[hulk007]

That's true, if it draws attention that's all they care about.

[thelastresort]

what a scam. but that's marketing. like how the toy racecar sets we got as kids were all supposed to rip around the track at lightning speed, where in reality, they fell apart the day after Christmas.

Or our "keds" and "PF flyers" were supposed to make us run faster and jump higher.