After years of hearings, approvals and legal challenges, construction has finally begun on the redevelopment of the long-vacant former CVS property in Ship Bottom.<\/p>\n
Construction crews have been working this summer at the former pharmacy site at 702\u2013716 Long Beach Blvd., where Wainwright Amusements<\/a> plans to convert the building into a family entertainment center featuring a game zone, escape room, interactive XD theater and caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n The project is expected to open by the end of 2026. Wainwright Amusements is owner of Fantasy Island Amusement Park and Thundering Surf<\/a> in nearby Beach Haven.<\/p>\n Construction on the long-vacant CVS site marks the end of a seven-year regulatory and legal process.<\/p>\n Municipal planning documents show the project calls for renovation of the existing structure rather than demolition, despite years of speculation about the site’s future.<\/p>\n A 2023 engineering review<\/a> submitted to the Ship Bottom Land Use Board states that the applicant had previously received approval to renovate the existing commercial building and convert it into a family entertainment center.<\/p>\n The proposal first appeared before the Ship Bottom Land Use Review Board in 2019 under Docket No. 19:05<\/a>.<\/p>\n Records show Wainwright Amusements’ application<\/a> for the property at 702-716 Long Beach Blvd., identified as Block 107, Lot 9, was listed as new business on the board’s March 20, 2019, agenda.<\/p>\n The application was heard by the board multiple times over the following months.<\/p>\n Minutes<\/a> from the board’s April 17, 2019, meeting detail the discussion of Wainwright Amusements’ special-reasons-use variance request for the former CVS site, reflecting the complexity of the project and the approvals required before construction could begin.<\/p>\n The project resurfaced in 2023 when Wainwright Amusements sought amended<\/a> approvals.<\/p>\n An engineering review prepared for the Land Use Board described plans for a family entertainment center that would include a game zone, escape room, caf\u00e9 and XD theater.<\/p>\n The amended application also proposed a 3,775-square-foot second-floor addition for storage related to the entertainment operation.<\/p>\n The amended application, identified as Docket No. 2023-14, was listed as a resolution item on the board’s December 2023 agenda<\/a>.<\/p>\n More New Jersey news<\/p>\n Read the original article on NJ.com<\/a>. Add NJ.com<\/a> as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After years of hearings, approvals and legal challenges, construction has finally begun on the redevelopment of the long-vacant…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":437714,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[130565,967,173648,131,133,132,173650,173649],"class_list":["post-437713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-construction-crews","tag-entertainment","tag-family-entertainment-center","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-ship-bottom","tag-wainwright-amusements"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}