Ocean City Council rejects plan to build hotel at Wonderland Pier site

A plan to build a 7½-story hotel at the former site of Wonderland Pier in Ocean City will not proceed, following a city council meeting Thursday evening.

Councilmembers voted 6-1 against a measure that would have asked a city planning committee to look at the former amusement park property and determine whether it needs to be rehabilitated.

A yes vote would have allowed the developer to get a zoning variance and build a hotel that would tower over nearby boardwalk attractions, said Councilmember Keith Hartzell, who voted no.

“I don’t like the height,” Hartzell said. “The town is not into height.”

Hartzell said he talked to over 250 residents and found that they were divided. He concluded that the town needed a master plan that would imagine the future of the boardwalk’s mile-long commercial district, which caters to families and children.

“What we came up with is let’s look at the whole boardwalk and really get the community involved,” he said. “Because when the community is divided, you’ve got to pull back and look for a compromise position.”

The property, located at 600 Boardwalk, once held Gillian’s Wonderland amusement park, where generations of families enjoyed old-time rides such as a carousel, wet boats and a Ferris wheel.

» READ MORE: Pizza shop, arcade to open at former Wonderland Pier site in Ocean City

Icona Resorts Chairman and CEO Eustace Mita bought the property from Ocean City Mayor Jay Gillian in 2021. The Gillian family closed the park in 2024, and Mita revealed a plan to build the 252-room hotel.

Mita, who lives in Ocean City, said the no vote is “a shame.”

“Ocean City, through a lack of understanding of the ramifications of a redevelopment zone designation, just lost the opportunity of a lifetime,” said Mita.

He said that though Ocean City bills itself as “America’s greatest family resort,” it hasn’t had a new hotel in more than 50 years.

“And we were bringing a world-class resort to the city on a silver platter,” he said.

Mita said he plans to sell the parcel of land, adding “there is no path forward” for his development company.

Thursday evening, blustery winds from Hurricane Erin whipped into City Hall, where the doors were left open due to an overflow of people, according to resident Marianne Brewer.

The three-hour meeting was tense, as people who had been “venting” on Facebook for months finally had a chance to speak directly to the board — and to Mita, the developer.

Those opposed to the hotel said it would lead to overcrowding, increased traffic around the nearby high school, and block out the sunlight and coastal winds for those who lived in its shadow.

“I’m elated,” Brewer said of the result. “I was glad that city council listened to everybody on both sides and made the decision not to send this to the planning board, and to update their master plan.”

Councilmember Pete Madden — the one yes vote — said his colleagues were making a mistake.

Madden said that there were plenty of checks and balances that would have allowed the council to get more information and work with the developer while still being able to oppose the hotel plan.

“There’s opportunities to go through that we are missing and we’re being a little shortsighted on,” Madden said.

After the council voted, resident Brian McPeak said he’s worried that developing a master plan for the boardwalk will be a time-consuming process that leaves the Wonderland property in “purgatory.”

“It will be a fallow piece of property that nothing is going to happen to for season after season after season,” McPeak said. “And that is going to be a detriment, not only to the boardwalk and its merchants, but to the entire brand and the tourism appearance of the city.”