Seaside Heights Ocean Club has been a hit. Now what about restaurant, dinner theater?

Jean Mikle, Asbury Park Press
·4 min read

SEASIDE HEIGHTS - It's safe to say that the Ocean Club has been a hit.

"Everything has been going excellent," according to developer Ben Mabie. "The feedback we’ve been getting is very good. There might be one cabana available, but we are 95% filled."

On a recent hot Wednesday afternoon, Mabie visited the club at 5 p.m. and was pleased to see "80 to 90 people" on hand, enjoying the pool, deck and beach.

The first phase of the project on the far south end of Seaside Heights' boardwalk — an oceanfront pool, beach, restaurant and cabana club — opened shortly before Labor Day 2021. Cabanas at the Ocean Club cost $10,000 to $27,500 for the season, depending on the cabana size and amenities, Mabie said. They offer access to the pool and the club's private beach, as well as a poolside and beachside food and beverage service.

An aerial view of the Ocean Club on the southern end of the Seaside Heights boardwalk.
An aerial view of the Ocean Club on the southern end of the Seaside Heights boardwalk.

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The complex's 8,000-square-foot Ocean View Restaurant and banquet hall has also proven popular, hosting weddings as well as corporate parties. The restaurant features an outdoor deck with expansive ocean views. Food stands on the boardwalk in front of complex have also helped draw business to a section of the borough that was devastated first by superstorm Sandy and then by 2013's boardwalk fire, which destroyed 68 businesses in Seaside Heights and neighboring Seaside Park.

"I haven't heard any complaints," Mayor Anthony Vaz said of the complex. "I haven't heard anything negative. Only positive."

The second phase of the project, a two-story "family-style" restaurant, has been approved by the borough, and Mabie said he is hopeful that the eatery can be built and opened by next summer. "We're in negotiation with several restaurateurs," he said. "We hope to use the winter months to build the structure on it."

Mabie said his business, the Mabie Group, hopes to partner with the restaurant owner on construction, and then lease the space to the restaurateur to operate.

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The Ocean Club and Ocean View Restaurant is now in its second full summer and more then. 90% of the cabanas are rented. The project has helped to draw more business to the south end of Seaside Heights boardwalk and a two story restaurant is expect to be built on the north side of the complex by next summer.
The Ocean Club and Ocean View Restaurant is now in its second full summer and more then. 90% of the cabanas are rented. The project has helped to draw more business to the south end of Seaside Heights boardwalk and a two story restaurant is expect to be built on the north side of the complex by next summer.

'People want good food'

In the meantime, Mabie's brother, Michael, who is president and director of operations for the Mabie Group, has requested temporary approval from the borough's planning board to install two "kiddie rides" on the pier for the remainder of the summer, including scooters shaped like animals and a bungee "trampoline." The planning board is expected to discuss the issue at a meeting Thursday.

"They are temporary, so I don't think there will be a problem," Vaz said. He said he believes a family-style restaurant on the pier will do well if it's ready to go by next summer.

"It will have a nice view of the water, and people want good food these days," Vaz said.

Also under construction at the Ocean Club site is the pier on the south side of the building, where Mabie hopes a dinner theater will one day be built.

"I would like/hope that the pier is finished by October or November," Mabie said, noting that the timetable for completing construction is weather-dependent. The dinner theater plan has not yet been approved by Seaside Heights.

The Ocean Club and Ocean View Restaurant is now in its second full summer and more then. 90% of the cabanas are rented. The project has helped to draw more business to the south end of Seaside Heights boardwalk and a two story restaurant is expect to be built on the north side of the complex by next summer.
The Ocean Club and Ocean View Restaurant is now in its second full summer and more then. 90% of the cabanas are rented. The project has helped to draw more business to the south end of Seaside Heights boardwalk and a two story restaurant is expect to be built on the north side of the complex by next summer.

Initial plan got pushback

The initial plan to build a 1,000-seat beachfront dinner theater and adjacent helipad on the southern end of the complex was temporarily shelved after receiving strong pushback from officials in both Seaside Heights and Seaside Park.

Mabie said, though, that the dinner theater proposal is still the intended use of the southern end of the complex, although he said he is not yet sure what the size of the theater will be, or when a plan for it may be presented to the town. "That is still the plan that will be proposed," he said.

Initially the scope of the initial Ocean Club proposal, and the fact that it included a restaurant with a liquor license, caused some concern in the borough. Vaz and the Borough Council have worked for several years to rebrand Seaside Heights as a family-friendly destination, and there were worries that the restaurant could somehow morph into a nightclub.

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The Ocean Club and Ocean View Restaurant is now in its second full summer and more then. 90% of the cabanas are rented. The project has helped to draw more business to the south end of Seaside Heights boardwalk and a two story restaurant is expect to be built on the north side of the complex by next summer.
The Ocean Club and Ocean View Restaurant is now in its second full summer and more then. 90% of the cabanas are rented. The project has helped to draw more business to the south end of Seaside Heights boardwalk and a two story restaurant is expect to be built on the north side of the complex by next summer.

Mabie said building a nightclub at the Ocean Club location was never considered. And he stressed again last week that the "dinner theater" will not be a nightclub. Instead he envisions a theater where patrons watch a show while eating top-quality meals, similar to venues in Atlantic City.

"Now that they have seen this in operation, seen this restaurant operating, I think they (borough officials) have a better idea," Mabie said of the development. "Everything I have been told and heard has been positive."

Jean Mikle covers Toms River and several other Ocean County towns, and has been writing about local government and politics at the Jersey Shore for nearly 39 years. She's also passionate about the Shore's storied music scene. Contact her: @jeanmikle,  jmikle@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Seaside Heights Ocean Club moves forward on restaurant, dinner theater