Seaside Heights Terminates Agreement With Developer of 10-Story Boulevard Complex

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

The Seaside Heights borough council has voted to terminate an agreement with a development group that had promised to build a 10-story mixed-use complex that would have been the jewel of the Boulevard’s redevelopment plans, 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.

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.

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

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

The borough designated the site as a redevelopment area and solicited proposals from developers wishing to buy the land and build a modern mixed-use property that would incorporate several stories of residential units above retail and restaurant space. The corporate structure of the development group that ultimately submitted the winning proposal changed over the course of several years, eventually falling to a company led by Daniel Matarese, the owner of Danco Construction, under the name of “SSH Boulevard LLC.” 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.

Previously, documents indicated a group of investors, including the wife of Ocean County Republican Chairman George Gilmore and other notable political figures from across the state, held positions in the redevelopment company. But by the summer of 2023, planning board attorney Steven Zabarsky said at a meeting that Matarese appeared to own a 100 percent stake in SSH Boulevard.

The ultra-modern building approved by the planning board included 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.

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

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

At least to the eyes of the visiting public, the story largely ended there. Behind the scenes, however, years of letters and demands from the borough went unmet, as shown in a resolution de-designated Matarese’s company as redeveloper and canceling the sale of the property to him.

The litany of back-and-forth correspondence included an April 5, 2023 resolution threatening to de-designate the company as redeveloper if the Redevelopment Agreement and Purchase and Sale Agreement were not executed b y the close of business on May 5, 2023. This agreement was finally signed on May 2, 2023, but “delays continued to plague this project” for two years, the borough council’s resolution from last week stated. The borough’s concerns were “documented by correspondence spanning nearly two years, in which the borough repeatedly expressed concerns over SSH’s delay, and SSH responded with various explanations but without diligent or meaningful progress.”

The borough send another letter threatening to de-designate the company as redeveloper in February 2024, leading SSH Boulevard to proffer a project schedule a month later that promised the installation of piles, footings and foundations within eight months. In June 2024, the company requested an extension on that deadline, and in September 2024, the two sides came to a head again over inaction.

“Despite receiving preliminary and final site plan approval a year earlier on September 25, 2023, SSH waited until September 6, 2024 to file its preliminary water and sewer application, which was ten months after the October 29, 2023 deadline in the Purchase and Sale Agreement to file for governmental approvals,” the resolution stated, indicating that the company blamed delays at the state level for its failure to obtain a water treatment works approval permit.

Also in September 2024, SSH Boulevard agreed to provide the borough with evidence that it had secured financing to complete the project, which led to further meetings between borough and officials and the company, culminating in a Nov. 18, 2024 meeting during which SSH Boulevard admitted it was not ready to provide the requested financial information. The following month, the borough sent an official notice of default to the company, once again threatening to de-designate it as redeveloper. The company responded in January 2025 with a letter stating they were “not required to provide a financial plan showing anticipated sources of funding until six months from the date that SSH obtains all governmental approvals,” despite the fact that the deadline to obtain those very approvals had lapsed more than a year earlier.

In February 2025, Seaside Heights officials sent a letter to the company stating that it had confirmed government approvals had been obtained, and no outstanding issues were preventing the SSH Boulevard from beginning construction. Four months later, the borough confirmed that the DEP’s water permit had, indeed, been obtained by the company. In October 2025, the borough send a final notice to the developer stating that the council would move to de-designate and cancel the sale if “a complete financial plan describing viable sources of funding for the full amount of the project cost” was not received by December.

The ‘steel structure’ on the Boulevard in Seaside Heights is demolished, Aug. 16, 2021. (Photo: Daniel Nee)

The Boulevard, Seaside Heights, N.J. (Photo: Daniel Nee)

The Boulevard in Seaside Heights following the demolition of the steel structure between Hamilton and Webster avenues, Aug. 26, 2021. (Photo: Daniel Nee)

This became its own mini-saga, the documents showed, with SSH Boulevard responding Oct. 31, 2025 with a “sparsely written pre-approval letter” dated just two days earlier that purportedly indicated $80 million financing to build the complex. The borough determined, however, that the financing came “without any equity investment, at a below-market-rate interest, from a non-established lender, that does not reflect a viable funding source.” Making matters worse, on the same day, SSH Boulevard told borough officials that the entity which had agreed to purchase the property – a separate LLC – had been legally dissolved a year earlier and had not existed since then.

The borough council then unanimously voted to terminate the sale agreement – since the buyer no longer existed – and de-designate SSH Boulevard as redeveloper at its meeting Nov. 25, 2025.

Borough officials said they could not comment on the actions taken by council due to the potential for future litigation over the matter. Efforts to reach parties at Danco Construction over the Thanksgiving Day holiday were unsuccessful. While the resolution de-designated SSH Boulevard was effective immediately, the cancellation of the sale of the property came in the form of an ordinance that requires a public hearing and second vote. That hearing and second vote is scheduled to occur at the council’s Dec. 16, 2025 meeting.