The zoning beneath one of Sea Isle City’s most recognizable commercial properties may prove more valuable than the building standing on it.
The former restaurant at 9 42nd Street went under contract July 24 after listing for $2.995 million.
The one-story building occupies a prominent site beside the Promenade, with 94 feet of frontage, a 4,234-square-foot lot and more than 11 off-street parking spaces.
Its C-4 Beach Business zoning creates room for a far more ambitious redevelopment.
Sea Isle’s zoning code permits mixed commercial and residential construction in the district.
Under C-4’s standard rules, the first floor must remain commercial, while residential units may rise above it at a density of one unit for every 1,250 square feet of lot area.
That base calculation could support multiple residences above street-level commercial space at 9 42nd Street.
The district permits retail stores, offices, takeout food service, restaurants, enclosed taverns, amusement businesses and beach-equipment rentals.
Buildings may rise three stories and cover as much as 95% of the lot, although parking and other requirements would shape the actual footprint.
Height limits depend on roof design and flood-zone designation. A pitched-roof building may reach 39 or 40 feet above the local design flood elevation. Flat-roof construction faces a lower limit.
Parking could determine the size of any residential units.
The property has already taken one run at residential conversion.
In 2023, 9 42nd Street LLC applied to convert three of the building’s five commercial units into residences while retaining two commercial units.
That plan required a use variance because it placed residential units inside the existing one-story building. C-4’s standard rules reserve the first floor for commercial use and allow residences only on the second floor and above.
The Sea Isle City Zoning Board approved the application in January 2024 and memorialized the decision the following month.
The prior approval does not establish what the property’s next owner intends to build.
Any new mixed-use proposal would have to satisfy C-4’s parking requirements or receive additional relief under Sea Isle City’s zoning code.
The district requires one parking space for each residential unit smaller than 1,500 square feet. That rises to three spaces for units between 1,501 and 1,800 square feet and five spaces for units measuring 1,801 square feet or larger.
Three units measuring between 1,501 and 1,800 square feet would require nine spaces. Three larger residences would require 15.
The current listing advertises more than 11 off-street spaces, although redevelopment could eliminate or reconfigure some of that parking.
The parcel presents another zoning issue.
At 4,234 square feet, it falls below C-4’s current 5,000-square-foot minimum lot area. The district also requires lots to measure at least 50 feet wide at the street and 100 feet deep.
Any new redevelopment would have to address the parcel’s existing dimensional nonconformities.
It remains unclear whether the 2024 approval is still effective. Sea Isle’s zoning code generally provides that a variance ends two years after it is granted. Ironside could not determine whether permits, an extension or another action preserved the earlier approval.
Listing agent Doug Newbold did not respond to a request for comment.
The buyer has not been identified, and no new redevelopment proposal has been announced.
The site nevertheless carries substantial potential in Sea Isle City’s distinctive premium real estate market: A prime Promenade location, C-4 mixed-use zoning and a base density calculation supporting residences above commercial space.
The prior approval shows that the property’s residential potential has already advanced beyond the drawing board.
Leave a Reply