The Wonderland Pier hotel developer faced detractors at a packed public meeting in Ocean City
Eustace Mita told the crowd he’d pitched saving Gillian’s to another iconic Jersey shore amusement family: the Morey brothers, but they’d turned him down.
OCEAN CITY — Since Gillian’s Wonderland Pier shut down in October, there has been a steady stream of outraged voices among Ocean City loyalists. Even after developer Eustace Mita said his “Icona in Wonderland” hotel plan would save Gillan’s historic carousel and landmark Ferris wheel, his detractors have kept up an outraged chorus to “Save Wonderland.”
On Monday night, they packed the offseason Shore town’s library auditorium to overflowing, with many more watching remotely, at a regularly scheduled Third Ward meeting hosted by City Council member Jody Levchuk.
The star attraction, beyond a host of plans outlined by Levchuk including beach replenishment, new tennis courts and bayside dredging, was Mita: He and his team lined the room with photos of hotels that had closed over the years, and gave his best pitch for a $135 to $150 million hotel to replace the beloved 95-year-old Gillian’s: Icona in Wonderland.
Here’s how it went.
How did Mita sell his plan?
Mita emphasized his own Ocean City roots and his love for Wonderland. “This is a site that I’m very passionate about,” he said. “We have 17 grandchildren, and the only seashore town they’ve ever known in their life is Ocean City. My first ride I recall was on the wet boats, and for that reason, we’re keeping the wet boats.”
He dropped one bombshell at the top by saying he’d pitched saving Gillian’s to another iconic Jersey Shore amusement family: the Morey brothers of Wildwood, but they’d turned him down.
Speaking from a corner of the room to a sea of mostly skeptical faces, Mita emphasized that Ocean City’s history has always included an ocean front hotel, originally the Flanders, and that the town has lost 1,000 hotel rooms in the last 30 years.
» READ MORE: Truckloads of relics from Gillian's Wonderland Pier are being sold at 'Obnoxious Antiques'
His existing properties, including signature hotels in Avalon, Wildwood Crest, and Cape May, bring in 1,000 new tourists every three days, and he said Icona in Wonderland at 600 Boardwalk would invigorate that end of the Boardwalk, not detract from it.
He acknowledged that the spacious beach shown in front of the red-roofed hotel in his architectural renderings has mostly now eroded away, but he said he was confident replenishment, or nature, would fill it in.
He promised to rebuild and relight the Ferris wheel, which will be elevated another ten feet and rotated 90 degrees, and incorporate the Carousel and the wet boats into his balconied hotel, which he said was “Old Seashore,” inspired by Disneyland’s Grand Floridian and the Hotel del Coronado in California.
So people were won over? Not quite.
Mita also promised $1 million in annual tax revenues and a 252-room property with 375 parking spots that would not seek a liquor license (but would have weddings and other private events where alcohol would be allowed), and would not become condos down the road, at least under his watch.
But many in this dry town with Methodist roots were unmoved.
Helen Struckmann, a leader in the Save Wonderland movement, made an impassioned appeal to Mita, worried that a new hotel replacing the amusement pier would accelerate the loss of Ocean City’s family values and religious roots.
She also worried that Mita’s plan to ask that City Council declare the property in need of redevelopment, which would avoid having to seek a zoning change, would still set a precedent that could lead to more hotels.
”We do not need an entire Boardwalk of hotels,” she said. “I think you haven’t though this through. If a hotel goes in that zone, that will bring about the destruction of the entire Boardwalk very, very quickly.”
Dustin Alvino, a nearby property owner and real estate investor, told Mita he’d purchased and preserved a nearby historic property. “Ocean City really moved away from hotel rooms because it’s a family-oriented destination,” he said.
He noted the thousands of properties available on Airbnb and other sites and said, “Can you tell us why you feel the market really does need this?”
Mita replied by saying towns like Avalon had lost most of their hotels and become a bedroom community. “Now that may be what we want to be, but we call ourselves America’s greatest family resort and a family resort has to be supported,” he said.
» READ MORE: A 7-story hotel is planned for the Wonderland Pier site in Ocean City
Others worried about the state of the beach, the impact on the high school (Mita noted the busy season was mostly when the high school is closed), traffic on narrow streets, parking, and the precedent of building another big hotel.
Bill Merritt, who has proposed preserving the site with an ice-skating rink and other recreational attractions, and who said his Save Wonderland group has raised $1 million, told Mita he’d been unavailable to speak with concerned citizens, which Mita denied.
Merritt said his group had made an offer of $250,000 to buy the carousel when it was seemingly part of an offering of the rides for sale, but was told it was not for sale.
Mita emphasized that the decision to close Wonderland was not his, and that the demise of the beloved Pier was not because he wanted to build a hotel. “It’s not that I’m getting rid of it,” he said. “Wonderland went out of business. From the time we bought Wonderland, we had an agreement with the mayor to see if you can give it a go. We took all the debt away.”
Others accused him of playing Monopoly with Ocean City properties, trying to build the biggest hotel, and undermining the city’s strict zoning by seeking the redevelopment designation. One even envisioned a dystopian future for Ocean City with a strip club that sold guns.
Not everybody was against ‘Icona in Wonderland’
Bernadette Bechta, who recalled paying $5 for a room at the Myrtles beach house in 1966, thanked Mita for being willing to invest in Ocean City, and doing it “with a level of elegance.”
“We have to learn how to embrace change,” she said. “I can’t imagine that looking at Wonderland was beautiful and that this wouldn’t be a more desirable vision. Don’t hide behind tradition.”
Normalee Linforth, who’s been in Ocean City since 1946, called the plans “absolutely remarkable,” and said she is constantly fielding calls from friends across the country who tell her, “‘Normalee, we would love to have this hotel. We need a place to bring our whole family.’
“So good luck and don’t give up,” she told Mita.
Selling the property to someone else?
At one point, Mita said that if anyone wanted to buy the property from him to keep it an amusement park, they should raise their hand, and he’d be happy to pass it along. One person did: Dustin Alvino, the nearby property owner.
Mita said that he’d entertain an offer amounting to what he initially paid and how much it’s cost him to carry the property the last few years.
Alvino said he’d be willing to make an offer, and the two men did talk after the meeting.
But Mita’s asking price was hard to pin down. It was widely reported that he paid $10 million for the property in 2021, when Ocean City Mayor Jay Gillian, the former owner, was defaulting on $8 million in loans.
But he said the cost was actually more than that, and any buyer would have to come up with at least $20 million.
Another public meeting is scheduled for Dec. 4 at the Ocean City Tabernacle.