$135M Hotel Planned for Old Ocean City Pier Location
Ocean City officials are considering whether to approve a luxury hotel at the site of the old Gillian’s Wonderland Pier, which closed in October. Icona Resort CEO Eustace Mita has submitted a $135 million proposal for a seven-story, 252-room hotel along the south side of Sixth Street: Icona in Wonderland. If approved, the project would be Ocean City’s first large hotel building project in 50 years.
Mayor Jay Gillian, whose family operated Gillian’s for close to a century, sold the land in 2021 to Icona Resorts to satisfy $8 million in defaulted mortgage loans.
In an interview with The Philly Voice, Mita, an Ocean City resident, promised to retain the park’s Ferris wheel, carousel, and boat ride at the redeveloped hotel property. “We call ourselves ‘America’s Greatest Family Resort,’ and when you look at the broad meaning of resort, it means hotels and entertainment. We have the Music Pier. We have the mini golf. We have Playland’s Castaway Cove. We are losing our hotel rooms from right under our feet.”
Mita’s reference to the hotel room loss reiterates a trend of dwindling room availability by more than 80% over the last 30 years. Only about 500 rooms exist compared to a peak of 3,000 several decades ago.
The most significant obstacle to Mita’s plan is Ocean City zoning, which prevents new hotels from being built on the boardwalk without a variance. To move forward, Mita will need to convince Ocean City to classify the site as a Redevelopment Zone under state law.
Mita met with community representatives on Monday, Nov. 25, at the Ocean City Library to discuss his vision for the hotel. While he acknowledges the community’s emotional attachment to Wonderland, he argues that a new hotel is essential for sustaining tourism and supporting local businesses on the boardwalk.
