Government

Seaside Heights Gives Developer Last Chance to Save 10-Story Tower Plan

by
Daniel Nee
December 18, 2025

Renderings and plans for the former ‘steel structure’ redevelopment effort, Seaside Heights, N.J. (Source: SSH Redevelopment Plan Deck)

Seaside Heights officials have decided to allow the would-be developer of a ten-story, mixed-use complex on the Boulevard one last chance to comply with a redevelopment plan for the property, holding off on adopting an ordinance canceling the sale of what was long known as the “steel structure” in the center of the business district.

The borough council terminated its agreement with a development group last month, and was set to adopt an ordinance that had been introduced to formally cancel the sale of the property at Webster and Hamilton avenues after nearly two years of repeated warnings about the group’s inaction to begin construction and worries over the developer’s potential lack of financing. Functionally, the LLC owned by a group of partners who initially proposed the development of the mixed-use tower at the property no longer existed, with builder Dan Matarese – owner of the Danco Construction firm – left as the sole developer. The ordinance canceling the sale had been scheduled for adoption Wednesday, but Council President Vito Ferrone said the governing body would extend Matarese one last chance to save the project.

“After the borough council introduced this ordinance on Nov. 25, [Borough Administrator] Chris [Vaz] and I, together with the borough’s redevelopment attorney, met with Mr. Matarese and his attorneys,” Ferrone said. “The product of that meeting was an agreement to provide Mr. Matarese until Jan. 30 to submit a new application for the borough to consider the new entity/ownership’s qualifications to be designated as the redeveloper of the project.”

Renderings and plans for the former ‘steel structure’ redevelopment effort, Seaside Heights, N.J. (Source: SSH Redevelopment Plan Deck)

After Ferrone’s announcement, the council agreed to table the ordinance that would have canceled a potential sale of the property. Since Wednesday’s meeting was the last of the year, it effectively took the ordinance off the table until the next council term begins in January.

Mayor Anthony Vaz said after the meeting that Matarese will be required to submit documentation clarifying that he is now the only remaining party in the redevelopment effort, and that he has solid financial backing to get the project underway.

“We’re giving him a window, and if everything works legally, we’ll have no problem,” the mayor said.

The last-minute change comes after the borough passed a resolution detailing years of delays, missed deadlines and other issues with what had begun as a redevelopment effort that included a number of political luminaries, including the wife of Ocean County GOP Chairman George Gilmore. Those parties are, apparently, no longer part of the project.

The property that once housed the former ‘steel structure’ in Seaside Heights, now slated for redevelopment. (Photo: Shorebeat)

A sign advertising redevelopment at the ‘steel structure’ site on the Boulevard in Seaside Heights, Sept. 2025. (Photo: Shorebeat)

The property in question, located along the Boulevard between Webster and Hamilton avenues, had long been known as the “steel structure” lot due to the presence of a massive rusting edifice of a previously-failed effort to build a major nightclub and entertainment complex. The borough, after more than a decade of watching the hulking skeleton of a building rust in the elements, condemned the property and took it from its previous owner, local businessman Vincent Craparotta. Located in the center of the Boulevard business district, the block-long piece of property has gone undeveloped for more than two decades, plagued by financial issues stemming from the 2008 financial crisis, to Superstorm Sandy, to what became frustrating inaction on the part of the current developer.

While the steel structure was eventually torn down and the 10-story tower was approved by the planning board, little to no concrete action toward a genuine construction effort ever got off the ground, leading the borough to spend the better part of the last two years sending repeated correspondence to Matarese and his legal team as deadlines came and went.

The ultra-modern building approved by the planning board includes a mix of 77 condominium units, a fifth-floor restaurant and lounge measuring 8,500 square feet, and 6,460 square feet of retail on the first floor, fronting the bustling Boulevard. Other redevelopment projects around the site did, indeed, begin construction including the Coastal Edge luxury building that replaced the former Karma nightclub. The impressive architecture of all of the structures were aimed at reviving the Boulevard as a destination separate from the boardwalk, with the 10-story project at the center.