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Is the ICONA Cape May Project on Hold?

Is the ICONA Cape May Project on Hold?

With the renovation of its Diamond Beach location, their acquisition of a third hotel in the Wildwoods, partnership with Gillian’s Wonderland Pier and more, ICONA has slowly became a strong powerhouse resort company.

ICONA’s recent project is going to be one of its most significant undertakings. Back in November 2019, public records showed that they had acquired the old Beach Theater lot at 713 Beach Ave in Cape May. Many speculated what would be going into it’s place and we got the answer last October when owner, Eustice Mita, gave a presentation during a Cape May City Council meeting.

ICONA was proposing a $100 million 168-room hotel that would look like hotels built in the early 1900s.

DAS Architects designed the building to be elegant and have restaurants, shops, cafés and include a massive ballroom.

At that meeting the project wasn’t officially a submission but just a preview of an application down the line.

The first week of September the application was officially heard by Mita who mentioned that if the city didn’t want to move forward then he wouldn’t move forward.

One of the requests Mita had was that the city grant him a redevelopment zone designation for the area in which the hotel would stand on.

Cape May Mayor Zack Mullock said in the September 6th Cape May City Council meeting that they are against giving ICONA such redevelopment zone designation.

One of their biggest issues with the redevelopment zone designation is that it bypasses many steps to get things approved including having the historical preservation board involved.

Many feel, including the public, that these steps are needed to guarantee that any new construction on the island fits in with the current setting.

On the other hand, without said redevelopment zone designation the project could take years longer as every step has to be approved by the different governing boards.

Where do you sit on this topic?

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