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Ahoy! Summer is coming, and you are part of an elite group of over 2,500 Ocean City residents, vacationers, and business owners who subscribe to the only weekly newsletter about Ocean City, New Jersey.
The email today is chock full of news and events so let’s not waste any more time.
In the email today:
📆 Upcoming events
⛳️ More details on 34th Street mini golf course
🐋 Orsted Wind sues Ocean City
🔗 News links
🥒 New store alert: Smithville Pickle
👟 New walking club comes to Ocean City
🏠 Real estate update
💸 Median prices dip in April
🔥 Agent hot takes on new listings
🦈 Shark!
🎟 Tickets and discounts
🌊 Weather and tides
💸 Our Sponsor This Week: Berger Realty 17th Street Office
Berger is THE destination for sales and rentals in Ocean City.
Rentals are booking like crazy and the inventory is getting slim. Year after year bookings start earlier and earlier. Companies island-wide are getting inventory from owners who are deciding to rent out some last-minute weeks. It’s good to have an agent on the watch for you when a property pops up that fits your needs. The good ones don’t last for more than a few minutes!
Want someone on the lookout for you? Call 609-391-0500 or email Kevin at [email protected].
📆 Upcoming Events in (and around) Ocean City
May 13th
Bronco Invasion
When: 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Where: Boardwalk
Description: A day filled with fun and sun and Broncos from end to end! There are more events besides the Boardwalk portion.
Other events to look forward to: SUMMER! (All summer long)
🤳 News Bits
More Details on 34th Street Mini Golf Course ⛳️
We now have more details on the new mini golf course set to open on 34th Street at the site of the former Blitz’s market.
Earlier this week, we spoke with Chris and Kelli O’Hara, two members of the O’Hara family, who are behind the project— their family also owns Uncle Bill’s, Nauti Donuts, and Aunt Betty’s.
Here are the details:
small family-style course with water features such as a pond and cave— not to the scale of Pirate Island or Congo Falls
expected to pull people from central and southern ends of town— walk and bike friendly (lots of bike racks)
set to open next spring, with demolition beginning on the current building on the lot soon
family wants alternative to Boardwalk entertainment and create outing-type night for families at Randazzo’s, playground, and mini golf
plan is to have Nauti Donuts on premises
You can read a lot more about the project, including quotes from the O’Haras, in our deeper dive story here.
Orsted Wind Sues Ocean City 🐋
Orsted, the Danish company behind the Ocean Wind 1 project that just about everybody hates, sued Ocean City in state court last week.
Orsted claims the city is unnecessarily delaying permit approvals for them to lay electric transmission lines under the city
Mayor Gillian thinks the claims are preposterous and notes that the city is appealing a state agency’s decision that ignores Ocean City’s request to consider alternative routes
Orsted wants approval by June 16 or else their project will face delays
Quote from the mayor:
“The lawsuit continues a pattern that Ocean Wind presumes the offshore wind project is a done deal and they will resort to any means to maintain their desired schedule.”
“The application to open Ocean City’s streets comes before the federal decision on whether the project can be built in the first place. It came before the decision on whether the project can cross state tidal lands.”
“Rather than await the decision of the Appellate Division, Ocean Wind is demanding street-opening permits to pursue the route that is the subject of the appeal.”
Will this permit-delay tactic by Ocean City work? Probably not. This is a federal- and state-backed project, with a flood of political attention, and something tells me processing delays on local permits won’t be the thing that does it in.
But you gotta hand it to the mayor and Ocean City in general, handing out permit delays like the penguins from the Snow Kingdom in the Super Mario Movie rapid-catapulting snowballs at Bowser while he encroaches upon their kingdom.
Do you yield?
I do not, says Orsted.
You can read our full story on the matter here.
News Links 🔗
The NY Post has started covering whale deaths on Northeast beaches 🐋
The owner of Passion Vines opened a new cocktail lounge in Somers Point — great guy, once delivered himself to my house 🍸
Ocean City scraps plans for year-round parking meters on Asbury 🅿️
👚 New Store Alert: Smithville Pickle
Opening Memorial Day Weekend, they will sell all kinds of pickles, pickled everything, and seasoned pretzels, barbecue sauces, homemade ketchup and more.
👟 New Walking Club Comes To Ocean City
“The new Ocean City Walking Club invites everybody to join weekly walks on the Ocean City Boardwalk on Friday mornings.
People of all ages and fitness levels are encouraged to meet outside the Ocean City Music Pier at 9 a.m. each Friday to walk the length of the Boardwalk. The Ocean City Healthy Living Advisory Council created the group as a way for people to get healthy and meet new friends.
The Ocean City Boardwalk is 2.45 miles long, and round trips (4.9 miles) take about 90 minutes, but participants are welcome to stop at any point along the route. After Memorial Day Weekend, the weekly walks will begin at 8 a.m. The HLAC asks everybody to grab a coffee or water and “don’t forget to bring your smile.”
Do you get to end the walk at Brown’s?
🏠 Real Estate Update
Did you know Walking The Boards has a newsletter dedicated to Ocean City Real Estate?
Would you like to opt-in to receive our weekly Ocean City real estate newsletter, written by Walking The Boards editors?Choose one: |
Median sale prices sagged a bit in April, dipping down to $830,00 after consecutive months near or over $1 million:
January: $1,039,000
February: $950,000
March: $999,000
April: $830,000
But through the first 10 days or so of May the median sale price has popped right back to $984,000.
So is April just an outlier? Maybe.
Last April, sale prices didn’t dip the way they did this April. In fact, the average sale price in April of 2022 was $844,000, compared to $830,000 this year, which means this is the first YoY dip since August of 2022, with the trailing 90-day average still up 12%.
So, what gives? Why are some housing trends pulling in one direction while others are headed the opposite way?
Forgive the oversimplification here, but the market is messy, and there are a few things mucking it up.
Our on-staff local agent estimates that 25 percent of the typical housing inventory is currently available. In a vacuum, such scarcity puts would-be sellers in the obvious power position of driving more aggressive asking prices from motivated buyers looking to get on the island.
There's just one small problem.
With interest rates floating around 6%-6.5%, buyers may not be lining up to abandon far more favorable loan terms -- or take on a second loan -- just to pay a premium on the sale price.
In other words, while sellers remain in position to capitalize on lack of supply, higher rates, economic uncertainty, persistent inflation, and recession whispers may have buyers, quite literally, pumping the brakes before they roll up to that house with a $1.8 million price tag on West Avenue.
Agent Hot Takes on New Listings 🔥
We have another round of AGENT HOT TAKES this week.
The standout this week:
2341 Simpson Ave Unit 1 - $1,299,000
Local Agent Take: A nice new construction with 4 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms. The second floor of this building is already under contract, so the price is right. It sits on a 40 x 115 ft lot. A rule of thumb in OCNJ: 40-ft frontage usually fits a 4-bedroom property, a 30-ft wide frontage fits a 3-bedroom, a 50-ft wide frontage fits a 5-bed, and so on. What’s unique about this property is that it’s 115 feet deep, which is an extra 15 feet compared to most standard lots in town. Great location on the Gold Coast with absolutely gorgeous beaches. The downside? It does flood sometimes back there but not enough to cause any issues.
Read all of our takes on the latest new listings over at our new work-in-progress real estate site ShoreCribs.com.
🦈 Shark!
OCEARCH logged 8-foot juvenile Great White Jekyll off the coast near Ocean City.
We heard he’s just scouting out windmill transmission line locations.
🎟 Tickets and Discounts
Want to advertise here? Just reply to this email and we’ll respond to your request.
🌊 Weather and Tides
As always, we recommend getting up-to-date forecasts from THE GOAT of South Jersey weather, NorEaster Nick, directly on his Facebook page.
Tides (9th Street):
Friday (5/12)
High: 1:47 AM
Low: 8:33 AM
High: 2:36 PM
Low: 8:39 PM
Saturday (5/13)
High: 2:56 AM
Low: 9:34 AM
High: 3:46 PM
Low: 9:51 PM
Sunday (5/14)
High: 4:03 AM
Low: 10:32 AM
High: 4:48 PM
Low: 10:59 PM
Monday (5/15)
High: 5:04 AM
Low: 11:25 AM
High: 5:43 PM
Low: 11:59 PM
Tuesday (5/16)
High: 6:00 AM
Low: 12:14 PM
High: 6:33 PM
Wednesday (5/17)
Low: 12:54 AM
High: 6:51 AM
Low: 1:00 PM
High: 7:19 PM
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Thanks! Enjoy the weekend.