Business Buzz
By Rich Baehrle
Eclat Investments, led by Raj and Yogi Khatiwala, have completed a number of renovation projects in Ocean City. The local natives, who grew up in Ventnor and went to Atlantic City High School, have put an emphasis on improving the town by making significant capital improvements to the properties they own.
Over the past week, the company won four awards at the 2023 Chamber of Commerce annual meeting. The Forum, Pavilion Apartments (The Beach House), and Shoppes at The Asbury (located in the former Crown Bank Building), all won best renovations of the year.
These properties all feature the newest, most modern, highest-quality rooms in town. The Scarborough Inn, which is the No. 1 ranked hotel on TripAdvisor in all of Cape May County, won another award this year as well. The brothers attribute their success to having a team that works very hard and has great chemistry.
Most recently, Eclat purchased the former Crown Bank Building, now named The Asbury. Like everything else the Khatiwalas brothers have touched, the corner of Eighth Street and Asbury Avenue has been brought back to life.
Raj Khatiwala believed that Ocean City was missing a place for the residents of Ocean City to establish their businesses locally. There is very little traditional office space in town, and even less of it is vacant.
As the year-round population has increased since COVID, the availability of office and retail space has not. The intention is to give business owners the option of having higher-end office space in a marketplace where it doesn’t exist.
Since February 2023, when Eclat acquired the vacant office building, occupancy has increased to over 70 percent. At the street level, the Shoppes at The Asbury, the newest boutique in Ocean City, features a wide array of products including children’s clothing, custom leather products, high-end men’s and women’s clothing lines, and Di Bruno Bros.
The Shoppes is opening an Art Gallery on Dec. 8 featuring Jon Baker, the beloved artist from Margate. He will be showcasing many of his works in the new gallery. This will be the kickoff to a monthly meet-the-artist sip-and-shop event.
The building is also home to Seapark, the only sushi restaurant in town, which features a nice outdoor seating area, and a variety of items from bubble tea and sushi rolls to lobster rolls and ramen.
The types of tenants the building has attracted include accountants, a financial planner, lawyers, a therapist, Information Technology professionals (Sun IP), and a yoga studio (Soul to Soul Yoga) coming in January.
Several floors of the building have been completely renovated including modern lighting, flooring, and furnishings. The main lobby and elevator have also been renovated to complete the refresh.
More than anything the Crown Bank Building has come back to life with activity, adding to the Asbury Avenue scene. The building boasts the best unobstructed views in town from the bay to the ocean and ample parking.
The building is filling up quickly as the appeal of having a renovated office space in town, with amazing views and parking is not easy to find. Rents range from $400/month for a smaller studio to $3,000 for a large multi-room office space.
Rich Baehrle, of Berkshire Hathaway Fox and Roach, can be reached at 609-266-6680
or 609-641-0011. Email richardbaehrle@gmail.com or see www.getrichinrealestateSJ.com
