The Gateway Grand isn't your parents' Ocean City condo. The 196-unit project will have first-class amenities such as granite countertops, 9-foot ceilings and an indoor pool. Asking prices for a three- or four-bedroom unit will be just as breathtaking - $1 million to $2.9 million. And the building at the site of the former Gateway Hotel and Ocean Club at 48th Street will have something else that might take old-timers by surprise: It's going to be 17 stories tall.
That's typical for the north end of Ocean City, where high-rises dominate, but not in midtown. Ocean City's redevelopment boom is pushing developers to reach for the skies. The council gave final approval to the Gateway Grand this month (local zoning law allows taller oceanside buildings if the developer agrees to, among other things, set aside more open space), but the decision raises questions about how far the tall trend may go.
There are at least 80 projects in some stage of development, Ocean City planning officials say. A Hilton Suites hotel under construction at 33rd Street will be as tall as the Gateway Grand. The advantages are obvious - more rooms can have an ocean view. That drives up property values and, ultimately, the city's tax base. And it doesn't necessarily mean higher density.
