Developers Know
Many folks are fooled by the lack of new construction activity here in the Wildwoods and throughout the island communities of Cape May County. “I knew it would never happen,” the backseat drivers shout about new 20+ story hotel/resort projects touted in the newspapers but not yet started. They are wrong.
In the state of New Jersey, any new construction project that is within 300 feet of water, has more than 24 units, or more than 48 parking spots, needs a CAFRA permit. This Coastal Areas Facility Review Act, administered by the NJ Department of Environmental Protection, is a thorough and lengthy process. It takes a minimum of two years to two and a half years to obtain the CAFRA permit, and in the case of the seven high-rise hotels in Wildwood, can take four years.
So while developers are exerting an inordinate amount of effort and $100,000 or more in fees for their environmental attorneys, engineers, architects, and endless environmental studies, an uneducated Joe Public sits on the sidelines and proudly pronounces the project DOA.
Unfortunately, these uninformed zealots are given a public forum to make their opinions widely known. In the local weekly county newspaper there is a gutless section called “Spout Off”. In it, anyone can basically say anything and push it off as fact. Right or wrong, it is printed. The authors don’t have to sign their name. It’s a disgrace!
The newspaper is owned by a far right, ultra-conservative snob who labels wind power and solar power band-aids, global warming a left-wing hoax, and promotes the drilling of the arctic and nuclear power. He’s a small town version of William Loeb and his Manchester Union Leader. You can see why he not only allows this journalistic embarrassment, he’s proud of it.
Anyway, Spout Off perpetuates the so-called decline of the real estate market and the county in general by letting these ”doom and gloom” know-it-alls have their say. Then more naive citizens read it and believe it. Soon they talk about it in public as if it was fact. After all, they read it in the newspaper so it must be right. Right? Wrong.
The truth is that these projects, along with large hotel complexes in Cape May, North Wildwood, and Diamond Beach are moving along, slow but sure. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
As realtors, we see more and more developers in the area looking for tracts large enough to host more hotel or condominium projects. At our agency, we have several conglomerates with upwards of $100,000,000 to invest in the shore area of Cape May County. We are constantly calling them with leads on new vacant properties, along with faxing and emailing tax maps, lot descriptions, comparative market analyses, and more.
Large projects don’t happen overnight. From concept to completion is about an eight year process. Unknown to most local residents, that concept faze is already underway! The developers are busy shaping the county’s future, secure in the belief that the real estate market is on the brink of another boom.
- Mountain Man
To learn more about the Cape May County real estate market, visit our website at www.JewellRealEstateAgency.com
February 25th, 2008 at 8:01 am
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you.
Allen Taylor