Robert Mulcahy III, left, James B. Kehoe and John F. Palmieri speak at the CRDA board meeting.

The CRDA’s $6 million contribution to the $20 million first phase of the Steel Pier improvement project is a prime example of what the Master Plan is intended to help accomplish in Atlantic City: economic recovery and realized potential by playing up — and improving on — its existing attributes and using government support to leverage private investment in the city.

“The mayor and (City) Council have always been supportive, but we have never seen a climate like this, with (all levels of) government,” said Tony Catanoso, one of the pier’s owners. “Instead of saying, ‘No, we can’t,’ they’ve expanded their vocabulary by one word: ‘Yes.’ We’ve never had that kind of attitude in Atlantic City in 20 years in business, and it’s totally driven from the top.”

Both the master plan and loan to Catanoso and his partners received unanimous support from the 15 CRDA board members (Nicholas Ribis and Debra DiLorenzo did not attend). They voted at the Atlantic City Convention Center on Wednesday, a deadline set by state law. Effective one year ago, those regulations also established the Tourism District and CRDA development powers within it, in addition to setting in motion other changes based in part on a report commissioned by Gov. Chris Christie to revive the resort beset by competition from nearby gaming markets and the recession.

State Sen. Jim Whelan, D-Atlantic, was one of the main proponents of the legislation.

“This is beyond my wildest dreams, what we saw today. I’ve been… around since the pre-casino days. And more remarkable than the plan we saw today, as great as it is, is …the consensus behind it coming out of the gate. That doesn’t happen in Atlantic City. It gives me great hope that this isn’t just another set of pretty pictures,” said Whelan, referring to the succession of citywide development strategies drawn up over the years. “That this set of pretty pictures is going to become a reality.”

Formerly mayor of the city, Whelan still lives here and sat among the nearly 300 city residents, public officials, journalists and other stakeholders at the two-hour session. The meeting included a presentation by The Jerde Partnership, one of four companies working on the master plan.

“This master plan is a vision, a guide, for furthering the city’s success. The future of Atlantic City is guided by those who know it the best — you,” said Jerde Vice President David Sheldon to the audience. “We are the interpreters, the visionaries. We want to position Atlantic City as … a city where there is no off-season.”

The $800,000 contract awarded to the consulting team, which is headed by Jones Lang LaSalle, includes ongoing engineering and other professional support CRDA officials expect to need as they implement the plan.

“No one expects this to be easy, but now we have a plan to provide direction,” said CRDA Executive Director John Palmieri.

There are three phases in all, with the long-term phase setting out suggestions that will be implemented five years or longer from now.

Bader Field, for example, is slated for development, but not until at least five years from now. The plan makes suggestions for how to do that — mixing residential and commercial uses perhaps, definitely maximizing waterfront access and green open spaces — but also advises continuing to host events there in the meantime.

State law also requires a progress report from the CRDA after the first, two-year-long phase of the plan, said CRDA Deputy Director Susan Thompson.

The three-year Steel Pier renovation plan calls for $102 million worth of upgrades to the 114-year-old structure that extends 1,000 feet into the ocean opposite the Boardwalk from the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort.

By this summer, a beer garden, six new rides and eight new games will start operating beneath new lighting and spruced up, better-coordinated facades. The diving horse act — which last appeared in the summer of 1993 — will be up and running, along with other acts inside an amphitheater in the works, too.

By 2015, Catanoso and his partners hope to be operating an enclosed pier that’s 25 percent larger.

“Everyone’s on board,” Catanoso said. “The attitude, enthusiasm is there. I think Atlantic City is going to come back, just by the way people are acting.”

The plan’s approval means it will be available in its full form today, complete with underlying economic analysis supporting its new ideas and existing ones that were incorporated. But suggestions for Bader Field and many other of the plan’s components geared toward achieving that end were revealed during a series of public meetings during the past month. Those sessions were meant to answer questions and get feedback from residents, business owners and other stakeholders. Concerns and questions remain, however.

Dennis Konzelman, president of the Westside Civic Association, said once residents understand how they’ll be affected by proposed changes, they’ll want to see results quickly.”

“This is great and beautiful and exciting,” said Konzelman, whose neighborhood doesn’t fall within the boundaries of the Tourism District. “We need to see something happen, and we want to know what’s going to happen to us. We’re not in the Master Plan. So just don’t forget about us, the people who live outside of (the Tourism District).”

Business owners also objected to the plan’s push to get rid of widely used steel doors that they roll down or pull across their storefronts for overnight security. But some parts of the plan suggest changes that are universally supported and have long been recognized, such as the intent to redevelop Kentucky Avenue with a focus on the street’s legacy as a nightlife destination and focusing on Atlantic Avenue as the city’s main street. Other parts of the plan note best practices already are in place, such as in Gardner’s Basin, or advocate moving forward with existing plans, such as those for the Steel Pier.

Mayor Lorenzo Langford didn’t bite when a reporter asked him to respond to criticisms from Christie, a break from the jabs they’ve exchanged before, such as Langford comparing the state’s implementation of the Tourism District to South African apartheid.

“This is a great day for Atlantic City,” Langford said. “The governor’s a man just like I am. He’s entitled to his opinions. I don’t put too much stock in what he has to say.”

Christie released a statement that was similarly even-keeled.

“A successful, vibrant Atlantic City is vital to the economic growth of both the regional and state economies,” the statement read. “Exactly one year to the day of signing landmark legislation that established the Atlantic City Tourism District, we now have an ambitious, visionary road map that will transform Atlantic City and lead its comeback.”

Highlights of the Atlantic City’s Master Plan

Eliminate ‘dead zones’ between major hubs and landmarks by adding art installations and eight to a dozen ‘innovation pavilions,’sponsored by international brands and extending from the Boardwalk over the sand.

Expand Ambassador program beyond Boardwalk by adding greeters elsewhere; expected to be triple the size for summer 2012.

Business corridors

Improve walkability and increase pedestrian traffic on Pacific Avenue with patio-style dining and street-accessible bars, boutiques and other venues. Establish small-scale retail in ground floors of casino parking garages on the beach blocks of Michigan, Missouri and Mississippi avenues.

Focus on improving storefronts and the mix of vendors and uses along Atlantic Avenue to help establish distinct districts within the city that seamlessly transition from one to the other yet maintain their own identity. Entails daily parades and other events, reducing detractors such as overnight security doors.

Mid-term: between two and five years from now

Arts District in Ducktown centered on Dante Hall Theater for the Arts.

AC LIVE! previously discussed as the entertainment-focused fourth phase of The Walk.

Revitalize Kentucky Avenue with focus on music and history to pay homage to nightlife and entertainment that once made the street a tourist destination in and of itself.

Expand Gardner’s Basin to include an oceanic research facility, fishing fleet operations and other offerings that fit with area’s existing marine and education themes.

South Inlet redevelopment: Lighthouse Park expansion, linear waterfront park.

Sculpture parks, skate parks, small festivals, sports fields in areas between Indiana and North Carolina avenues.

Long-term: five years or longer

Keep Bader Field as an event venue, with long-term plans for commercial, residential or mixed-use development.

Marina District should establish a network of waterfront walking and biking paths connecting new and existing gaming and nongaming resort properties.

Source: David Sheldon, vice-president at The Jerde Partnership, consultants on the Atlantic City Tourism District Master Plan

Inquirer Real Estate Writer

Home prices at the Jersey Shore continue to search for a bottom, almost four years after the U.S. housing market took a downward turn.

An analysis of second-quarter 2010 sale prices in Atlantic and Cape May Counties, done by Econsult Inc. vice president Kevin Gillen for Prudential Fox & Roach, shows that the typical Shore house has lost 24 percent of its value since the market’s peak in the second quarter of 2006.

By comparison, Philadelphia’s single-family home prices fell 6.8 percent in the same period, U.S. prices dropped an average of 13.2 percent, and the average decline for New Jersey as a whole was 13.6 percent.

“This disparity is likely attributable to the fact that the market for Shore homes is disproportionately composed of vacation homes, rather than year-round primary residences,” Gillen said last week. “As foreclosures have climbed along with unemployment and mortgage delinquencies, most households are incentivized to liquidate their second home or vacation home before doing likewise to their year-round residence.”

On a positive note, the analysis showed the decline slowed to just 0.7 percent in this year’s second quarter.

In addition, second-quarter sales from Brigantine to Cape May increased 77 percent, to 493 transactions from 278 in the first quarter. That was better than the seasonal norm, Gillen said; in a typical quarter, about 450 houses change hands.

The economy’s struggles have slapped the U.S. vacation-home market hard: In 2009, 533,000 such homes were sold, half the record 1.07 million sold in 2006.

What’s more, and what explains much about the Shore’s price declines, the number of vacation-home purchases by investors nationally also has plunged since 2006 – to 940,000 in 2009, from 1.65 million in 2006.

Investors – those who buy vacation properties almost exclusively to rent them to others – played an overwhelming role at the Shore during the real estate boom.

In 2005, said Moody’s Analytics Inc. chief economist Mark Zandi, “76 percent of loans to purchase a single-family home in the Ocean City metro area were to investors – the highest in the country.”

“Yes, the boom, bubble, and bust in Jersey Shore prices is due, in significant part, to the rampant speculation in housing,” Zandi said.

Bill Mestichelli of Philadelphia has sold two vacation houses and a rental property in Ocean City in six years. Even with a dip in prices of 14.7 percent since 2006, he said, “I think the market down there is still way overpriced.

“The mortgage companies are very tight with lending for second homes without a hefty down payment,” Mestichelli said. “I plan to get back in the market in Ocean City in about two years, when I believe the prices will stabilize.”

Although private mortgage insurers are not refusing to write policies in Shore towns, some have raised the loan-to-value standard, and thus the down payment necessary, in areas deemed “distressed.”

How distressed is the Shore? Since 2007, there have been 10,527 foreclosure filings in Atlantic County, with lenders taking back 1,236 homes, according to RealtyTrac Inc., of Irvine, Calif., which tracks U.S. foreclosures. For the same period in Cape May County, there were 4,665 filings and 580 lender repossessions.

The hardest-hit town has been Atlantic City, where prices have nose-dived 63.3 percent since the market’s peak, Gillen’s analysis indicated.

The latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data show that the leisure industry accounts for 53 percent of employment in the Atlantic City-Hammonton area. Seventy-five hundred casino workers have lost their jobs in recent years, with a domino effect on the investors whose condos they rented in Brigantine, Margate, and Ventnor.

Atlantic City-Hammonton’s August unemployment rate was 11.5 percent. The rate for the state overall was 9.6 percent.

And the situation appears to be worsening. Outside of the seasonal population, the area is not considered affluent – 11.1 percent of Atlantic County’s 271,000 residents fall below the poverty line, the Census Bureau says.

Atlantic City-Hammonton’s foreclosure rate is 8.1 percent, with subprime loans a factor in more than one-third of those. About 14 percent of this area’s mortgages are seriously delinquent, according to a Center for Housing Policy study.

From what he has seen, Gillen said, subprime loans “were significantly more prevalent in the low-income areas of New Jersey than in Pennsylvania or Delaware.”

“When you combine a greater decline in house prices – especially in the Atlantic City area – you get more negative equity, and hence greater numbers of defaults,” he said.

Investment properties and second homes are not eligible for mortgage modification, so they are more likely to go to foreclosure.

Because real estate investors try to get in with as little skin in the game as possible to turn a profit, they typically do not make high down payments. Thus, fewer are likely to get mortgages these days.

It is a different ball game for those who buy vacation homes for their own use.

Alex and Beth Cerrato of Haddonfield bought a three-bedroom home in Ocean City three years ago, after waiting for prices to drop. But as bargains began popping up, they sold that property for a $5,000 profit 18 months ago and bought a four-bedroom short sale closer to the beach.

“We aren’t flippers,” Alex Cerrato said. “This is the place we bring our boys and our families to gather for good times.”

In Avalon and Stone Harbor, home to some of the Shore’s most expensive dwellings, prices rose 59.3 percent between 2000 and 2010. They have fallen 18.8 percent since 2006’s second quarter, Gillen’s analysis showed.

The downturn has been far less kind to the Wildwoods, where speculative development loomed large during the real estate boom and prices soared 63 percent in 10 years. Prices have fallen 41.2 percent since 2006, Gillen’s analysis showed.

Home values had to go up before they came down. Gillen’s data indicate that between 1980 and 2010, Shore prices rose 154.6 percent, 55.4 percent over the last decade. At the same time, prices nationally increased 119 percent and 33.7 percent, respectively.

Since 2009’s second half, Gillen’s data show a marked slowing of price decreases.

“When prices first began to decline in 2006, they did so at an annualized rate of 4 percent a year,” he said. “In the latter half of 2009, the rate of decline decelerated to only minus 1.4 percent per year.”

Alex Cerrato isn’t worried. He plans to own his Shore house for 20 or 30 years.

“Eventually,” he said, “values will start going up again.”

By TRUDI GILFILLIAN Press of A.C. Staff Writer | Thursday, July 8, 2010

WILDWOOD — City Commission opted Wednesday night not to vote on a plan to allow the city’s bars to stay open an extra hour. Instead, the commissioners will consider a new proposal to allow the bars to stay open 24 hours a day from May to October.

After a public hearing that lasted about three and a half hours, Mayor Gary DeMarzo and Commissioner Edward Harshaw said they did not support allowing the bars to remain open one extra hour because they agreed the additional hour would be off little value to the bars. But they embraced a suggestion made by John Davis, bar manager at Luna Ristorante on Pacific Avenue.

Davis, a former city police officer speaking on behalf of the city’s tavern owners, said the bars needed every advantage to compete with neighboring municipalities in a difficult economy.

“We propose that we open 24 hours a day for the tourist season,” Davis said, explaining the season stretched from May to October.

He pointed to resorts such as Atlantic City, Brigantine and Las Vegas that allow alcohol service 24 hours a day.

Davis said the idea could increase business for Wildwood’s bars and eliminate the city’s bar break, that period of time after the 3 a.m. closing time when hundreds of bargoers spill out into city streets.

“What do you have to lose?” Davis asked.

Davis said he worked the midnight shift for 18 years and knows well that the 3 a.m. closing sends bar patrons into the streets and neighborhoods all at one time.

“This would alleviate the mass exodus,” Davis said.

Commissioner Al Brannen, who opposed allowing the bars to stay open until 4 a.m., also opposed the 24-hour idea.

DeMarzo and Harshaw, however, said the proposal has merit.

They amended the ordinance that would have allowed the 4 a.m. closing and added the 24-hour plan. A public hearing on the revised ordinance now is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. July 28.

During Wednesday’s hearing, dozens of residents and business owners spoke for or against the time change.

Currently, the city’s bars operate under an ordinance that requires “alcoholic beverages shall not be permitted to be sold, served, delivered or dispensed between the hours of 3 a.m. and 7 a.m. in any premises licensed to sell alcoholic beverages.”

That ordinance was adopted in a 1997 vote in which 54 percent of residents supported moving the closing time back from 5 a.m. to 3 a.m.

That change was prompted in part by the Feb. 15, 1997, death of John Vollrath Jr., a 23-year-old North Wildwood man who died after being beaten outside the former Club Kaladu. Police were called to the scene that day at 2:36 a.m.

One resident said she remembered the 1997 incident and how it had hurt Wildwood’s reputation.

Others said Wildwood is a resort that serves many segments like Walt Disney World.

Wildwood Crest resident Joseph DiEduardo, whose family owns a city bar, said the city could serve a range of visitors including families and others without conflict.

“Even Disney has a nightclub area,” he said.

Others, such as resident Larry Lillo, said the bars have 20 hours a day to operate and that should be enough.

“I don’t want to see the bars open late,” Lillo said. “All we’re doing is giving more alcohol to people who don’t need more alcohol.”

Still, others said the city’s Police Department should do more to enforce existing laws and make Pacific Avenue, the city’s struggling downtown area, a safer place for visitors and residents.

Attorney David Stefankiewicz, who operates Good Night Irene’s, said the bars need an edge to compete with neighboring towns.

“I do think we need a better police presence,” Stefankiewicz added.

Brannen continued to argue that there are other ways, such as live music, to attract business beyond extending the bar hours, and he urged city residents to patronize the city’s bars and restaurants.

“We have to wake up this town to support bars and restaurants on Pacific Avenue,” he said.

The federal government has taken emergency action this week to increase the black sea bass quota by nearly 61 percent in 2010.

The action came amid a six-month closure of the fishery and a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court by the Galloway Township-based Recreational Fishing Alliance.

Fishermen were incensed about the closure that began in October, destroying the winter fishery, and this led to a review of data that led to a better outlook on stocks.

The RFA is still reviewing its options concerning the lawsuit, since “substantial and irreparable harm” was brought forth by the closure.

The quota for 2010 was expected to only allow a two-month fishing season. The new quota will add several months but could still be one of the most restrictive sea bass years in recent memory.

Home prices in southern New Jersey were flat in the fourth quarter of 2009, while federal incentives to buyers boosted sales in New Jersey by 34 percent over the prior year, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday.

The median sale price for homes in the greater Atlantic City market – in which the Realtors included Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland counties – fell to $222,700 from $223,000 the prior quarter, a drop of about a 10th of a percent.

That followed at 2 percent increase in the third quarter and provided more evidence that housing prices in the region have stabilized.

Southern New Jersey prices in the fourth quarter were 2.8 percent lower than the year before, while U.S. prices declined 4.1 percent during the same period, the Realtors said.

The region also outperformed the Northeast, where prices fell 5.6 percent in 2009.

U.S. home sales increased 13.9 percent in the quarter and 27 percent for the year.

Jarrod C. Grasso, chief executive of the New Jersey Association of Realtors, said a third straight quarter of increasing sales and stabilizing home prices are encouraging signs for the housing market.

“It appears the market has found its footing,” Grasso said in a statement. “As the general economy begins to recover and jobs are added, the pace of housing sales should accelerate.”

He said tax credits for first-time home buyers and now for repeat home buyers joined other factors – low interest rates and lower prices – to increase real estate sales.

A 2-to-3-foot cliff shows signs of erosion at the 82nd Street beach in Long Beach Township. Deputy Police Chief Leslie Houston said Sunday afternoon that she had not received any reports of erosion, but Public Works employees had not been out to assess the beaches.

At the height of this weekend’s storm, for the first time in years, Tom Foley saw waves breaking under the Boardwalk in Atlantic City.

“We had tremendous beach erosion,” Atlantic County’s emergency management director said, citing Connecticut Avenue to Virginia Avenue as the hardest-hit area. Erosion has been a chronic problem there.

By the time a federal beach replenishment project gets under way in 2011, Foley said, “we’re just not going to have those beaches available. They’re just totally destroyed.”

There were no immediate reports of beach breaches leading to flooding, however, Foley said.

Cape May County spokeswoman Lenora Boninfante said erosion did not produce any known emergencies, of which the county already had more than its fair share.

“At this point, the focus is on restoring power and clearing roads and bridges,” Boninfante said. “Once the snow passes and everything is back in place, towns will be checked for damage.”

Officials from municipalities across Long Beach Island reported no significant beach erosion.

Bill Tromm, Beach Haven’s emergency management coordinator, said a small amount of erosion was seen on the beach at Merivale Avenue, an area known for eroding during storms. Borough officials appropriated $150,000 for emergency work to be done to the beaches after a coastal storm in November.

Long Beach Township Deputy Police Chief Leslie Houston said Sunday afternoon that she had not received any reports of erosion, but Public Works employees had not been out to assess the beaches. “We should know something tomorrow,” she said.

Meanwhile, 26 beaches on the southern end of Long Beach Township remained closed, cordoned off with yellow police tape, some of it wind-whipped and torn from the storm.

In Surf City, where beaches were replenished in a $6 million beachfill project, the 15th Street beach was eroded, and dune fencing was ripped out of the sand. Mayor Leonard T. Connors said he received no reports of erosion on borough beaches but said he will meet with the police Chief William Collins today to assess beach damage.

Ship Bottom Mayor William Huelsenbeck said he also has received no reports of erosion or damage to the beaches. “A couple weeks ago, we lost some dune in some areas due to erosion. But I haven’t heard anything about this storm,” Huelsenbeck said.

Harvey Cedars Mayor Jonathan Oldham said he was happy that a beachfill project was taking place on the borough beaches after this weekend’s storm. Oldham said he received no reports of damage to borough beaches, adding that Public Works employees were preoccupied this weekend with getting roads clear.

On Friday, Steve Rochette, spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said the Harvey Cedars project, which was supposed to be completed next month, will be completed in May due to delays in the work schedule because of the bad weather.

The cast of the MTV reality show 'Jersey Shore'

By MARTIN DeANGELIS and BRIAN IANIERI Press of AC Staff Writers

The cast of the MTV reality show ‘Jersey Shore,’ which premiered last month, includes from left, back row: Angelina; Jenni ‘J-Wow’; Nicole ‘Snookie’ and Mike ‘The Situation’ Sorrentino; front row: Vinnie, DJ Pauly D, Ronnie and Sammy ‘Sweetheart.’ Sorrentino and Pauly D’s apperance at Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort’s Casbah Nightclub has been rescheduled from Saturday to Feb. 13.

Photo by: MTV photo by Scott Gries

Sea Isle City had a real situation on its hands Thursday. Or make that a fake situation.

Rumors were flying around town and around cyberspace that the bad boys and girls of MTV’s hit show “Jersey Shore” were set to take their act south from Seaside Heights after that night’s season finale and set up shop in Sea Isle next summer for another run of shows. The people of Sea Isle — year-round population 2,909 — weren’t happy with that idea, and they were letting their leaders know it.

With calls and e-mails flooding City Hall, the mayor of the Cape May County city had to take the rare step of issuing an official statement denying a rumor. Mayor Leonard Desiderio said nobody from the network or show had contacted anyone from the town, and he was relieved when an MTV representative joined in to help squelch the rumor.

“We have not confirmed a second season” will air, let alone where that season would be set, said a network spokeswoman who declined to give her name.

Desiderio was sure by midafternoon that his Sea Isle office had broken all one-day January records for phone calls — most of them asking about “Jersey Shore,” and most of them complaining about it. A secretary in his office, Patty Ponichtera, estimated a bit later that the mayor himself got somewhere between 50 and 100 e-mails, all of them opposed to “Jersey Shore” landing in their little corner of that shore.

But the city Clerk’s Office was also getting calls, and so was the public relations office, where spokeswoman Katie Dalrymple said she had first heard the rumor Wednesday night.

“My friend texted me that ‘Jersey Shore is coming. It’s on Facebook,’” she said. “Then I came in this morning and had about 10 e-mails and phone calls about it.”

And the complaints kept coming for the rest of the day.

“They were all saying that if it’s here, it’s going to pretty much ruin some of their vacations,” Dalrymple said.

So the town went on the offensive — against a show its people apparently find so offensive.

“This is my 18th year (as mayor), and I never had to put out a statement denying a rumor before,” Desiderio said. “This story has taken on a life of its own, and it really … grew and grew and grew.”

Desiderio said he had also never watched a “Jersey Shore” episode until Wednesday night, after he started getting a few calls asking whether Sea Isle would really host a second season of the infamous show. The source of the rumors, as far as he could figure, was an unattributed line repeated on several Internet blogs: “Filming will begin again this summer in the resort town of Sea Isle, N.J.”

His diagnosis — which he repeated at least a few dozen times Thursday, to residents, homeowners, renters, potential renters, bar-owners and media representatives , including radio talk-show hosts: “That’s got to be a misprint with Seaside Heights.”

Desiderio, who makes his living owning a bar, was with the people who don’t want “Jersey Shore” at his Jersey shore.

He gave that verdict after watching a rerun of an episode in which cast member Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi — a 4-foot-9-inch, 21-year-old woman with a penchant for doing headstands in bars while wearing a short skirt, forcing MTV to blur out certain parts of her in several shows — wore basically a corset and lots of makeup to Seaside Heights bars.

It was also the episode in which another character got arrested for punching out a guy in a bar. In a particularly controversial earlier episode, cameras were rolling when Snooki got punched in a bar, by a male gym teacher.

Another “Jersey Shore” fan favorite is Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino, who took his nickname from peoples’ reaction to his abs — or stomach — and who often refers to himself in the third person, as in, “Girls love The Situation,” or, “If you don’t love The Situation, I’m going to make you love The Situation.”

Whatever its charms, the show got to be popular enough that a Google search for the phrase “Snooki got punched” turns up more than 6 million hits. And Desiderio himself generally loves getting publicity for Sea Isle — but not all publicity is good publicity, he said, adding that “Jersey Shore” isn’t “something we would want to portray in our community and have the entire country viewing it.”

But he planned to watch the show for the second time Thursday, to catch that season finale.

Not because he’s such a big fan, Desiderio said, but “I just want to watch it to make sure at the end they don’t say, ‘Let’s go to Sea Isle!’

SEA ISLE CITY – A 49-year-old city man has been charged with two counts of arson in connection with two fires last week.

The Jan. 18 fires damaged a public restroom at 40th Street and the Promenade and destroyed a wooden shed on 36th Street and Pleasure Avenue, Sea Isle City police said.

The shed fire spread to the adjacent north tower of Spinnaker condominiums and caused significant damage to the exterior, police said. The nine-story beachfront condo complex remains open. There were no injuries in either fire, although people were staying at the Spinnaker at the time, police said.

On Saturday, police charged William J. Simpson with second-degree aggravated arson in connection with the Spinnaker fire, police said. He was lodged in Cape May County jail on $75,000 cash bail.

Simpson earlier had been charged with third-degree arson in connection with the bathroom fire and lodged in the county jail on $35,000 cash bail, police said. Further investigation connected him to the Spinnaker fire as well, police said.

The county Fire Marshal’s Office, the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office and the Sheriff’s Department assisted in the investigation.