SEASIDE HEIGHTS - A troubled Boulevard motel has been torn down, clearing the way for a new K. Hovnanian townhouse development.
The Offshore Motel, which was demolished last week, was listed for sale in 2022 for $5.8 million. K. Hovnanian plans to build 24 townhouses on the site.
The redevelopment is part of an ongoing renaissance in Seaside Heights, where at least 14 motels have been sold for redevelopment. Mike Loundy, the borough's redevelopment director, said he believes that by the end of 2024, 20 motels will have been sold for new development, cutting in half the total number of motels in town.
"We are pleased to be underway with this exciting new K. Hovnanian project," said Loundy, who also owns Seaside Realty. "By the end of the year we should be underway by redeveloping our 20th motel site into various types of new development. We are looking forward to this and the many exciting new projects underway in Seaside Heights."
Loundy said K. Hovnanian hopes to start development at the site by the fall, after securing all permits and borough approvals. The townhouses will have three to four bedrooms and each unit will have its own garage, he said.
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Among the other projects are seven single-family homes built at the site of the the Mark III Motel on Carteret Avenue, with prices starting at $899,000. The recently demolished Coral Sands Motel, at 1010 Boulevard, will be redeveloped with 15 townhouses; the units will have two or three bedrooms and 2½ baths.
A Boston-based developer plans build a 170- to 180-room hotel and banquet facility at the site of the Surfside and Glendale motels. Surfside is located at 200 Ocean Terrace, with the Glendale located behind the Surfside on Lincoln Avenue. The site is about 45,000 square feet, Loundy said.
Home prices have soared in Seaside: the average sale price of a single-family home in Seaside rose 56.6% from $253,288 in 2020 to $396,739 in 2022.
Listings on commercial real estate site Loop.net show seven motels for sale in Seaside Heights. They are topped by the 66,000-square-foot Hershey Motel site, listed for $22 million.
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Also on the market are the Hotel Charlee Villas, 1211 Boulevard, on the market for $2.29 million; Sea Gem Motel and Apartments, 55 Dupont Ave., listed at $2.19 million; Hammock Inn & Suites, 1402 Boulevard, $1,199,999; Seaside Colony Motel, 65 Hiering Ave., $2.25 million; Metropole Motel, 600 E. Central Ave., $2.125 million, and the Flamingo Inn, 124 Kearney Ave., $1.79 million.
The Offshore, located at 108 Boulevard, was one of three motels the borough cited in 2021 for repeated police calls and code violations.
Police were called 153 times to the Offshore from April 1, 2020, until the borough moved to strip the motel's mercantile license in the summer of 2021.
One of those calls was for a homicide: Gerardo Ruiz, 50, was charged with murder after 29-year-old Alecia Perreault was found dead in a room at the motel in 2021.
Authorities alleged that Ruiz killed Perrault at the motel early in the morning on May 1 and then suffered a drug overdose. Ruiz pleaded guilty last year to a downgraded charge of aggravated manslaughter and was sentenced in December to 35 years in prison — a punishment his public defender said will likely amount to a life term.
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Perrault, who was homeless, had repeatedly asked the county to move her from the motel, saying she did not feel safe there. The county Board of Social Services last year paid $1.5 million to Perreault's estate to settle claims related to her death. The settlement was reached through mediation before any lawsuit was filed.
Jean Mikle covers Toms River and several other Ocean County towns, and writes about issues related to Superstorm Sandy. She's also passionate about the Shore's storied music scene. Contact her: @jeanmikle, jmikle@gannettnj.com.
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