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Atlantic City’s famed Steel Pier is hitting the market for $85 million — offering the supremely rare chance to buy an operating amusement park perched over the Atlantic Ocean, along with rights to build even farther out to sea.
The historic attraction, directly across the boardwalk from the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, spans roughly 5.2 acres and is being listed by Ryan Serhant, Michele Zyska, and Kevin Bergin of Serhant.
Today, the nearly 1,000-foot-long pier remains a classic Jersey Shore amusement park, with a towering Ferris wheel, rides, games and food — plus the unusual perk of a built-in helipad.
But beneath the carnival attractions is a unique piece of developable real estate.
The existing pier measures 150 feet wide and 965 feet long, while a perpetual riparian grant permits it to extend as far as 2,850 feet into the Atlantic.
“How often does someone get to own a piece of the ocean? That’s exactly what this offers,” Serhant said in a statement announcing the listing.
“The Steel Pier isn’t just 5 acres on the most famous boardwalk in the world, it actually offers the chance to own the Atlantic itself and build something unforgettable on top of it,” he added.
Speaking separately with The Post, Serhant called it “developable American history that extends straight into the Atlantic Ocean.”
And there is plenty of history.
Constructed in 1897 and opened in 1898, Steel Pier was once billed as the “Showplace of the Nation,” stretching nearly 2,300 feet at its historic peak. It has since appeared in films including “The Long Kiss Goodnight” and “The Bounty Hunter,” as well as television productions including “Cake Boss.”
The pier was rebuilt with steel-reinforced concrete in the late 1980s and is anchored roughly 90 feet into bedrock, remaining intact through Superstorm Sandy, according to listing materials.
A family chapter comes to an end
For the Catanoso family, the sale would mark the end of a decades-long run at Steel Pier.
The longtime South Jersey amusement operators ran the attraction for nearly two decades before an ownership group including brothers Anthony, Charles and William Catanoso purchased it for $4.25 million in 2011.
But after 15 years as owners, succession has become an issue.
“The next generation is pursuing other passions,” Zyska told The Post. “So rather than keep it in the family, they’d rather see it go to an owner who can really realize its full potential.”
The $85 million asking price is 20 times the 2011 purchase price, though the owners have since made substantial capital improvements. Zyska said the property was appraised at $87 million last year.
“If this were in Palm Beach, it would be $400 million, and someone would have bought it already,” Serhant told The Post. “The fact that it’s even available and there’s an opportunity to purchase it, I just think is super, super special.”
What comes next?
Despite its long amusement history, Steel Pier doesn’t necessarily have to remain an amusement park.
The approximately 40,000-square-foot front building and sky bridge carry an easement into the neighboring Hard Rock’s convention floor, while the existing pier footprint could potentially be expanded by 25%.
The property was approved and permitted for a condo-hotel entertainment complex in 2008 — a concept Serhant said would be his first choice if he were developing it.
“Executing on a condo-hotel plan would probably be my first plan,” he told The Post. “You have the rare ability to build out over the ocean itself.”
He said the brokerage has already had “soft conversations with a handful” of potential players and sees an opportunity for the kind of branded hospitality and residential projects proliferating elsewhere.
“If you’re a high-end, high-net-worth hospitality builder, I think Atlantic City is incredible value,” Serhant said.
Zyska said other possibilities include music and entertainment uses.
“If it lands in the right hands, it can really transform the boardwalk, and even that stretch of the Atlantic,” she told The Post. “It’s really a premier opportunity.”
The listing comes as Atlantic City undergoes another wave of development, with new residential projects from Kushner Companies, K. Hovnanian Homes and other developers rising around the resort town.
English (US)