Iconic Jersey Shore Property Hits The Market For $85M As Redevelopment Play

A beloved piece of Atlantic City’s waterfront is on the market as a multimillion-dollar redevelopment opportunity.

Steel Pier in Atlantic City

Serhant listed Steel Pier, an amusement park that extends 965 feet into the Atlantic Ocean from the Hard Rock Hotel & Cafe, for $85M.

The 5-acre property the historic pier anchors is being marketed as a redevelopment play, the Philadelphia Business Journal reported. A permit issued in 2008 means the buyer could host new hospitality, condo or entertainment uses.

A riparian grant in place means the pier, defined by a 485-pound Ferris wheel and a helicopter pad, could be extended well beyond its current footprint.

A new owner could potentially extend it to 2,850 feet. At one time, the pier was about 2,300 feet long.

Construction of the pier was completed in 1898, and it has long been an iconic entertainment destination. Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small told The Philadelphia Inquirer that it would be a “devastation” if the property was devoid of those uses.

“It’s an iconic piece of American history,” Serhant New Jersey Broker of Record Michele Zyska told the outlet. 

“We’re thinking probably more hospitality, music, and maybe even residential. We do have interest in someone keeping it as an amusement park.”

The company marketing the property is helmed by CEO Ryan Serhant, the star and executive producer of the Netflix show Owning Manhattan.

The property is owned by a partnership including Ed Olwell and three brothers: Anthony, Charles and William Catanoso. They bought the pier from Trump Entertainment for $4.25M in 2011.

Atlantic City has struggled in recent decades, but the municipality has fielded a new wave of interest from multifamily and townhome developers in recent years as other parts of the Jersey Shore have become increasingly unaffordable.

Temple University also plans to open a branch of its Katz School of Medicine there in conjunction with AtlantiCare. That project is scheduled to deliver in 2029.

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