Point Pleasant Beach Hopes To Revive Hotel Project

POINT PLEASANT BEACH – The borough hopes to revive a hotel project after the man who pushed for it passed away.

A plan to build a hotel on Channel Drive suffered an unfortunate setback when Daniel Cohen, a longtime beloved figure in the commercial industry, died of cancer in 2018. Now Mayor Paul Kanitra said he is personally working on trying to get the project jump-started.

"I think it will be transformative for Channel Drive,"Kanitra said.

Attorney John Jackson said Cohen's brother is now leading the project and he, too, hopes to revive it.

The original application called for a 109 room hotel/restaurant and banquet facility supported by parking and associated site amenities, according to borough records.

The plan was supposed to create enough economic activity "to make this a jewel," according to borough records.

The hotel was supposed to support corporate functions, weddings, anniversary and retirement parties, among other activities, according to borough records.

"It’s a high-quality project that will attract a good crowd to stay and spend in Point Pleasant Beach," the mayor said. "I’m now trying to assist in identifying financing sources and potential operators to help move the project along."

Cohen was considered a "pillar of the East Coast commercial fishing industry, and an eloquent spokesperson for commercial fisherman throughout America," according to his obituary on Yahoo Finance.

" 'Danny,' as he was known, took over the small fishing-dock and several fishing boats left to him by his father, Joseph Cohen, in 1976 and built it into Atlantic Capes Fisheries, Inc., an industry leading vertically integrated seafood enterprise," the obituary said. "ACF's fleet of scallop, clam and other fishing vessels, working out of company-owned and managed facilities in Ocean City Maryland, Cape May and Point Pleasant New Jersey and additional ports in New England, supply seafood to company-owned processing plants in Rhode Island and Massachusetts."