ATLANTIC CITY — The Steel Pier, home to some of Atlantic City’s most iconic spectacles, including diving horses and Miss America pageants, and lately an amusement pier, is up for sale.
Priced at $85 million, the pier, which was built in 1897, has been listed by the luxury New York City Serhant agency, whose owner, Ryan Serhant, is the star of Netflix’s Owning Manhattan.
The pier has been owned by the Catanoso brothers since 2011, but the family says the next generation is not interested in taking over. “It’s kind of a succession thing,” Anthony Catanoso said in an interview with The Inquirer.
The agency is targeting a buyer that envisions expanding the pier into a commercial hospitality venue, like a boutique hotel, a wedding venue, or an expanded amusement park, listing agent Michele Zyska said. She said luxury residential properties built over the ocean could also be a draw.
Mayor Marty Small Sr. said the prospect of the pier lacking amusements and entertainment would be “devastation.”
“The Steel Pier has always been the legendary part of the Atlantic City Boardwalk,” he said.
The pier structure measures 150 feet wide and 965 feet long and is anchored 90 feet into bedrock. A perpetual riparian grant permits it to extend up to 2,850 feet into the Atlantic.
“It’s like nothing else in the world,” Zyska said. “I keep saying that. It’s an iconic piece of American history. We’re thinking probably more hospitality, music, and maybe even residential. We do have interest in someone keeping it as an amusement park.”
The Catanoso brothers originally leased the pier from Trump Entertainment after winning the lottery in 1993 and bought it for $4.25 million in 2011.
They built its Observation Wheel, now a distinctive feature of the city’s casino skyline, teetered on bankruptcy, and found some stability in recent years running the pier with various amusements, bars, and restaurants.
Catanoso said business has been good, though wage costs have been a challenge.
“We’re getting older, me and my brothers,” Catanoso said. “The kids aren’t taking it over. It’s time for the next chapter. It’s a big development opportunity for somebody.”
Serhant calls the Steel Pier “one of the most recognizable landmarks on the East Coast.” The listing was first reported by the New York Post.
The agency notes the pier’s built-in helipad and previously obtained condo-hotel approvals.
“The Steel Pier is that rarest of offerings: a piece of developable American history extending straight into the Atlantic Ocean,” the company said in a release.
In addition to the amusement park, the property includes a 40,000-square-foot building with a sky bridge and roof.
“How often does someone get to own a piece of the ocean?” Ryan Serhant said in a statement. “The Steel Pier isn’t just five 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.”
The company also noted new residential projects that are in the works in that end of Atlantic City, including Kushner Cos.’ Caspian Point, K. Hovnanian Homes’ South Inlet townhomes, Colosseo Atlantic City’s Chelsea townhomes, and Zoubek Properties’ Residences at the Orange Loop.
