“Whilden expressed concern over the recent trend of closing seasonal hotels and converting them into condominiums.”
The reporter then went on to quote Dr. Whilden directly, “There has been less space for visitors, but room availability in now on the upswing.”
If Dr. Whilden is talking about the Whitfield, that old hotel/boarding house is becoming 4 single family homes. If he is referring to the Warrington Hotel, we have no reason to suspect a condo conversion at this time. The old Surf Avenue hotel was turned into condominiums—-in 2011.
So, once again, it seems we have gibberish emerging from the Qoaster.
Can someone tell us about the “recent trend” to close hotels and convert into condos? Certainly there is a past history of that, but is this now new news or is it fake news? Which hotels have been closed recently?
And if such conversions were recently happening, why in the world would the CMA be opposed to it? Their actions seem to support condo conversions because of the ground rent income. Look at all the condos being planned for the North End.
If Dr. Whilden is complaining about less “space for visitors” then what is his solution besides the opposition to permit parking?
Will he continue to support a hotel at the North End? Would he want a religious dormitory over there, although that idea was problematic in Ocean Township recently?
Will he build a parking garage on CMA land to help the visitors who attend CMA events? Will he engage in short term Airbnb rentals? After all, the CMA owns quite a few rentable buildings in town.
It sounds like the CMA needs to decide: more rooms to rent or more condo’s for income?
In either case, it’s not good for the town of Ocean Grove.
KINGS OF LEON “Last Mile Home”
“Driven on the last mile home, driven on the last mile home
Things are always better, when were all together
I’m driving on the last mile home”
Things are always better when we get it all together.
When Dr. Whilden said “room availability in now on the upswing,” It seems he was referring to Airbnb.
So is the CMA going into the transient hotel room business? Maybe he can persuade the CMA’s fans to take the train into town like they did by the thousands over 100 years ago.
Clearly the CMA wants more money from condos and more business from more people. The fact that this sort of ambition will cause a deterioration in life style for residents seems to be inconsequential for the CMA.
Ocean Grove was just named the top religious landmark in America (Newsmax). Will the CMA take that seriously and try to exploit it?
This is not good news for the small diverse town of Ocean Grove which is not a religious landmark—the CMA and its programs and its properties are. Once again, Ocean Grove the town is confused with Ocean Grove the religious phenomenon.
Words to the wise: We continue to run into semantic issues when describing our town. The name “Ocean Grove” is correctly used to describe the historic town which is part of Neptune Township, but there still are those who use “Ocean Grove” as an alternative name for the OG Camp Meeting Association.
It is a worrisome confusion, because sometimes Ocean Grove (the town) is at odds with Ocean Grove (the religious organization.)