A hotel is planned for the Wonderland Pier site, saving the carousel and Ferris wheel

OCEAN CITY, N.J. — Developer Eustace Mita has revealed his plans for the site of the now-defunct Wonderland Pier on the Ocean City Boardwalk, and they include saving the iconic carousel and Ferris wheel.

According to the plan — shared with councilmembers and, most recently, at a meeting of the Boardwalk Merchants Association — Mita would build a 7½-story hotel with 252 rooms to be called “Icona in Wonderland.”

Mita is owner of the Icona brand of resorts along the Jersey Shore, including in Avalon and Cape May. The Ferris wheel that has defined the Ocean City skyline would be moved to run east-west instead of north-south and be along the property’s north side. The carousel would be along the property’s south end.

In a telephone interview Wednesday, Mita said he would also be spending $1.5 million to rebuild the historic carousel and an additional $1 million to move and elevate “the iconic Ferris wheel that everybody’s worried about,” by 10 feet and redo the lighting, enhancing its status as a visible landmark coming into Ocean City.

He said he was planning to also save the beloved kiddie wet boat ride that are in so many people’s photos and memories, but possibly just for “display and pictures.”

“I think it turned out very well,” Mita said. He emphasized that Ocean City hasn’t had a new hotel in 50 years and that it had lost 70 percent of its hotel inventory to condos and duplexes. He said his resort would bring in a thousand new customers on the Boardwalk every three days in summer.

» READ MORE: Oct. 13 was the last day for Gillian's Wonderland Pier. There were tears and bagpipes, nostalgia and sadness.

As for saving any other rides, he said, “those rides are in such bad condition.”

“We call ourselves American’s Favorite family resort,” he said of Ocean City. “We have the entertainment, and we’re killing off our hotels. We haven’t had a new hotel in half a century.”

To avoid seeking a zoning change that would affect a large part of the town’s commercial Boardwalk, Mita is planning to seek a designation of the lot as a redevelopment zone, which would have to be approved by City Council and not require a change to laws that prohibit hotels in that area of the Boardwalk, at Sixth Street, according to two city council members who are familiar with his plan.

The Pier, formerly owned by Ocean City mayor Jay Gillian, shut down for good on Oct. 13. Days later, even as people were organizing to try to save the landmark, Gillian ordered the signage painted over or removed and the decorative turrets removed.

Gillian sold the land to Mita to avoid defaulting on $8 million in loans.

Amid the outcry, Mita said he would take six months to come up with a plan. He had previously expressed appreciation for the Pier and for the heartbreak that its closing caused people. In recent weeks, he started shopping his plan for a hotel that saves the carousel and Ferris wheel to members of the city council and others. He has not formally presented his plan to the city council.

City Councilman Keith Hartzell, who ran for mayor and warned that the Pier could be sold and a hotel built, said as a taxpayer he is against the plan. But he said he would see how it was received by constituents before deciding how to vote on any redevelopment plan.

» READ MORE: Before closing his family’s Wonderland Pier, Ocean City Mayor Jay Gillian was on shaky financial footing

“If it were up to me, I’d like to see a smaller hotel with more family activities,” Hartzell said. “We need the Boardwalk to be more and more for families to come.”

He called the Icona in Wonderland plans “nostalgic” and said the resort looked “beautiful,” but he said he wasn’t ready to support the idea.

“They looked at social media and said those were the two things people wanted the most, the carousel and the Ferris wheel,” Hartzell said. “Its just a major change for Ocean City.”

Marianne Brewer, who has been organizing people in a “Save Wonderland” Facebook group, said she was not familiar with the plans. She said people were still hoping for a more family and youth-centered plan for the site. One recent idea included a bowling alley and a pond that would allow ice skating in winter. And she worried about the impact on the high school and a community center located nearby.

Mita’s plan includes 375 parking spots for guests, not employees, and fire pits on the Boardwalk side. It would also include retail with Boardwalk frontage.

Councilman Jody Levchuk, who has seen the plans, said he has urged Mita to go public sooner than later. “It’s more important what the public is going to think of it,” he said. “I’m just one person. I highly encouraged him to go to the public with it as soon as possible.”

Mita had previously proposed a hotel for a city-owned site across Sixth Street from the Pier, but that was opposed by the mayor and council.

Mita told council members and Boardwalk merchants that he would not seek a liquor license in the dry town and would operate basically as the Flanders Hotel does, which allows people to provide their own liquor for events like weddings.

Wes Kazmarck, president of the Boardwalk Merchants, said his group meets next on Dec. 4 and would vote on whether to support the plan.