Bye Bye Bamboo! Seaside Sells Iconic Bar To Build Apartments

According to the APP (who unfortunately put their article behind a paywall), Seaside Heights has finally sold the Bamboo Bar.

Going back to some older stories, the bar was set to go to auction yesterday, and everything went as planned. Interestingly, that old article said the minimum bid was placed at $1,500,000, but the excerpt from the paywall article says it was sold for $1,200,000.

The owner of Bamboo and Karma had filed for bankruptcy just over a year ago, and it has been rumored for a while that whoever bought the buildings would not keep them as a nightclub. Seaside Heights has been battling their "Jersey Shore" image for years. Even before the show, Seaside had a reputation, and when MTV set up in 2009 (oh my, that show debuted eleven years ago?) things just got worse. Local officials have not been shy about expressing their desire to see the clubs go, and bring a more family-friendly atmosphere into Seaside Heights.

While I don't disagree with them, I'm still bummed about the news that the plan for the site is luxury apartments. Instead of homogenizing our shore towns, why couldn't they bring it something unique, something that could make Seaside stand out a bit, something that would be more of a "destination" for visitors?

How cool would it be if there was a legit concert venue in Seaside? All of the bars can bring in musicians, but it's typically just a guy with an acoustic guitar, maybe a duo that features a percussionist, but there aren't really any places that would attract a real band. Asbury Park has their small-to-mid-size venues, so Seaside had a chance to build their own that could compete.

I understand that the future of music venues is seriously threatened by the pandemic, so now might not be the time to invest...but it's still just disappointing to know that yet another monolithic apartment complex will be towering over the Jersey Shore.