One of Atlantic City’s most recognizable landmarks is on the market, creating a rare opportunity to purchase an operating amusement park, a sizable section of oceanfront real estate and the right to build farther into the Atlantic Ocean.
Steel Pier has been listed for $85 million after 15 years under the ownership of the Catanoso family. The property sits directly across the Boardwalk from Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City and occupies approximately 5.2 acres over the ocean. The New York Post first reported the listing Wednesday, Sept. 16.
The existing pier is about 150 feet wide and 965 feet long, according to marketing materials. A perpetual riparian grant allows the structure to extend as far as 2,850 feet into the Atlantic, nearly three times its current length. The listing also indicates that the existing pier could potentially be widened by 25%.
“How often does someone get to own a piece of the ocean?” listing broker Ryan Serhant told the New York Post. Serhant, Michele Zyska and Kevin Bergin of the real estate brokerage SERHANT. are handling the sale.
The offering includes the operating amusement park, its rides and games, food and beverage businesses, a helipad and an approximately 40,000-square-foot building at the Boardwalk entrance. A sky bridge provides access between that building and the convention level of Hard Rock.
Listing materials state that the pier’s steel-reinforced concrete structure is anchored approximately 90 feet into bedrock. The structure remained intact through Superstorm Sandy in 2012.
The property received approvals and permits in 2008 for a condo-hotel and entertainment complex, according to the brokers. Those plans were never carried out, but the earlier approvals illustrate the broader development possibilities associated with the site. Any future project would be subject to current regulatory requirements and government approvals.
Serhant has suggested that a hotel and residential project could take advantage of the property’s location over the ocean. Other possibilities raised by the brokers include a music venue, resort, entertainment complex or mixed-use development.
The pier, however, is more than a development site. Its history stretches across 128 years of Atlantic City entertainment.
From Annie Oakley to the diving horses
Steel Pier opened June 18, 1898, after construction began the previous year. Sharpshooter Annie Oakley was among the featured attractions during its opening season, according to a CBS News account of the pier’s history.
Built at Virginia Avenue, the original pier used iron pilings, steel girders and concrete at a time when many ocean piers were constructed primarily from wood. It was initially about 1,600 feet long and eventually grew to 2,298 feet at its peak.
Steel Pier developed into an enormous entertainment destination, promoted through slogans including the “Showplace of the Nation,” “An Amusement City at Sea” and “A Vacation in Itself.”
Visitors paid a single admission price and could spend much of the day moving among theaters, exhibits, concerts, circus performances and novelty attractions. At various times, the pier contained dance halls, movie theaters, a music hall, a ballroom, a water circus and exhibits sponsored by major automobile manufacturers.
Performers associated with Steel Pier over the years included Frank Sinatra, Al Jolson, Benny Goodman, Jimmy Dorsey, Guy Lombardo, Bob Hope, Mae West, The Three Stooges and Diana Ross and The Supremes. The Atlantic City Free Public Library also lists Charlie Chaplin among the entertainers who appeared there.
John Philip Sousa and his band performed a series of annual engagements at the pier. In later decades, rock ’n’ roll became part of the entertainment lineup. Bill Haley and His Comets appeared in 1955, and The Supremes played sold-out summer engagements during the 1960s.
The Beatles were booked to appear at Steel Pier in 1964, but the demand for tickets became too great for the venue. Their concert was moved to the larger Atlantic City Convention Hall, now known as Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall.
Music was only one piece of the spectacle.
Steel Pier became famous for elaborate and sometimes unusual attractions, including acrobats, animal acts, motorcycle stunt riders, a human cannonball, trained bears, high-wire performers and Rex the Wonder Dog.
The pier also offered a diving bell that lowered customers beneath the ocean’s surface.
Its best-remembered attraction was the high-diving horse. During the performance, a horse and rider descended from a platform as high as 40 feet into a pool of water. The act operated for decades and drew large crowds, although it later became the subject of animal-welfare criticism.
One of the best-known riders, Sonora Webster Carver, continued performing after losing her sight following a diving accident. Her memoir inspired the 1991 Disney movie “Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken.”
The horse-diving performances ended in the late 1970s. Attempts to revive the attraction in 1993 and again in 2012 were abandoned after opposition from animal-welfare advocates.
Steel Pier also played a role in the early history of the Miss America competition. Contestants were crowned there from 1935 through 1938 before the pageant established its longtime association with Convention Hall.
Storms, fires and changing fortunes
The landmark survived repeated damage and changes in ownership throughout the 20th century.
A storm washed away part of the pier in 1904. Edward L. Bader, who later became mayor of Atlantic City, led the reconstruction after other engineers reportedly considered the job too difficult.
A major fire damaged the pier in 1924. Frank Gravatt purchased it the following year and rebuilt it into a sprawling entertainment center. Gravatt’s flair for promotion and spectacle helped establish Steel Pier’s national reputation.
Showman George Hamid gained control of Steel Pier in 1945 after years of presenting entertainment there. Under Hamid, the pier continued booking well-known performers while adapting to changing tastes in popular entertainment.
The Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962 damaged portions of the structure. Another fire in December 1969 destroyed part of the pier and reduced its length by roughly one-third.
By the 1970s, Atlantic City’s traditional tourism industry was struggling. The pier was sold to local business owners in 1973, and plans were later discussed for a hotel-casino development. Those plans did not receive the necessary approvals.
Resorts International acquired Steel Pier in 1978 and primarily used it for storage. A December 1982 fire burned for more than seven hours and devastated much of the remaining historic structure.The current concrete pier emerged during the redevelopment of the site in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Trump Entertainment controlled the property through its ownership of the neighboring Trump Taj Mahal, which later became Hard Rock.
The Catanoso family began operating the amusement park under a lease in the early 1990s. An ownership group that included brothers Anthony, Charles and William Catanoso purchased the pier from Trump Entertainment Resorts for $4.25 million in 2011. The transaction included the structure, its buildings and the rights to the Steel Pier name.
The family subsequently invested in new rides and other improvements.
One of the most prominent additions was The Wheel, a 227-foot observation wheel that opened in December 2017. The attraction provides expansive views of the Atlantic Ocean, Boardwalk and city skyline.
Steel Pier has also appeared in popular culture, including the movies “The Long Kiss Goodnight” and “The Bounty Hunter” and the television series “Cake Boss.”
A family era may end
The proposed sale would end the Catanoso family’s more than three-decade association with the landmark as operators and owners.
“The next generation is pursuing other passions,” Zyska told the New York Post.
Zyska said the family wants to place the property with an owner who can pursue its long-term potential. She also said Steel Pier was appraised at $87 million in 2025.
The $85 million asking price is 20 times the amount the ownership group paid in 2011, although the family has made substantial capital improvements during the intervening years.
The listing comes during a period of renewed development interest in Atlantic City, including proposed housing, hospitality and entertainment projects. Brokers said they have had preliminary discussions with several prospective buyers.
Whatever comes next, the sale involves more than rides, buildings and development rights. Steel Pier occupies a singular place in Atlantic City’s history — one shaped by generations of vacationers, nationally known entertainers, daring spectacles, destructive storms, devastating fires and repeated reinvention.
