A proposal to redevelop nearly an entire block next to the Atlantic City Boardwalk, near the Absecon Lighthouse, recently secured a tax incentive from the city council, bringing the project a step closer to transforming a whole neighborhood.
Officials voted unanimously to approve the legislation on April 22. The agreement will grant a long-term tax exemption to developer K. Hovnanian Terraces at Absecon Urban Renewal LLC, enabling it to build 38 new homes and create 39 new lots.
The proposal spans nearly every parcel between Pacific Avenue, South New Hampshire and Dewey Place, and secured site plan approval from the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority in January 2025. It will leave a single parcel on the block with an existing single-family home untouched.
Documents made public by the CRDA show that the townhouses will be spread across four buildings: one building with 11 homes fronting South New Hampshire, two buildings with 6 homes each along Dewey Place, and one building with 15 homes fronting Pacific Avenue. The developer will also build three new roads and use one of the new lots as an alley off Dewey Place.
Each of the 38 townhomes will span approximately 1,820 square feet and include three bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms. Every unit will include a first-floor garage with two parking spaces and will have a driveway with enough room to park an additional vehicle. Each home will also be fitted with a dedicated electrical circuit for charging electric vehicles.
A January press release from Atlantic City Mayor Marty Smalls said that the project is part of a plan by K. Hovnanian to deliver up to 300 units in the Inlet section of the city. A presentation from the Mayor’s State of the City address in January also notes that the developer is looking to build 74 homes along Pacific Avenue between S Boston and S Montpelier avenues, just north of the former Atlantic Club Casino Hotel. That proposal would redevelop two surface parking lots, but the developer is still working on the proposal.
While the council passed the legislation on April 22, the text of the financial agreement has not been made public as of April 30.
The approval from the city council comes at a time when K. Hovnanian is undergoing a transitional phase. The firm’s October 2025 annual report says it raised its homebuilding revenues in the Northeast by nearly $116 million to $1.15 billion. That result reflects a 19.6% increase in home deliveries, partially offset by a 4.8% decrease in the average sale price. The decrease in average sale price, the firm said, also reflects new communities delivering homes that are lower-priced and smaller than those in the previous fiscal year.
The firm delivered a combined 6,431 homes across the U.S. in FY 2025.
