WEST CAPE MAY — For decades, a gas station had anchored the intersection of Sunset and West Broadway in West Cape May.
This was a practical rather than an aesthetic choice, although the addition of time lends photos from the ’50s a certain charm. (The nostalgia factory would have us believe it was always a holiday in the ’50s, a snowy Christmas or an innocent sun-baked summer. It seems unlikely, but isn’t it nice to think so?)
A few years back, that gas station at 110 Sunset Blvd. came on the market, and someone had the idea to turn it into a restaurant. The “filling station” idea was born.
Now 110 Sunset is up for grabs again after seven years of business. Some of the rooms in the 3,940 square feet of commercial space still feel new, including the office on the second floor — a surprisingly large space including employee restrooms.
The actual dining room is a living snapshot of a pre-pandemic world, with a two-story mural covered in sayings and quotes about menu items and decor that pretends diners are in a friendly backyard for the barbecue.
For some, this will inspire a different kind of nostalgia, one that most of us never expected to feel for a year as recent as 2018.
This feeling extends to the actual outdoors, where the original gas station canopy has been adapted to offer shade to dining tables tucked along the side of Sunset Boulevard, screened by a vintage truck and an airstream trailer.
All of it is self-consciously retro, but with a little less kitsch and neon than the Wildwood approach to the same era. The casual atmosphere filled a gap in the dining choices for this neighborhood, as many of the surrounding restaurants are fine dining establishments meant to comfort the old guard or mark the passage of time in milestones like anniversaries or first jobs.
The Filling Station has added a hangout spot, a vantage point for people-watching and a jolt of energy to the neighborhood that sits right at the western end of Wilbraham Park.
As such, the foot traffic competed with the customers that required one of the 14 parking spaces alongside the restaurant and dining areas.
Built in 2018, this business had to pass all sorts of environmental tests to open its doors, and has the NFA letter (a legal document testifying that all remediation of the environment has been complete and requires No Further Action — hence the name) to prove it.
The mercantile license says it can seat 98 people on a bright summer day, and this is where it gets interesting, because there is potential for expansion or subdivision of the 180 by 89 ft lot.
The commercial kitchen, which was all brand new in 2018, is outfitted with an Ansel fire suppression system, a top-of-the-line safety precaution that not only keeps the kitchen staff safer in the event of an accident, but also helps to lower insurance costs.
Every little piece of the puzzle helps here, because this location is only three blocks from the beach at the Cove: the cool kids are hanging out right in the backyard, surfboards under their arms and eager to find a spot that fits the sandy vibes, but the accompanying flood insurance has to be balanced out in other ways.
All of this is describing only what is and not what could be, which the listing agent, Tai Menz, is eager to talk about at length.
The endless million-dollar Tetris game of development possibilities is a fascinating subject (just look at what the kids are doing on Minecraft), but playing the real game for real stakes requires a firm grasp of reality and an intimate familiarity with the local market.
Menz and the current owner have cooked up a menu of options to help guide interested parties in all the potential of this location — seemingly from a mix of his professional interest in seeing things done right and an all-too-relatable desire to play a round of What If, which remains Cape May’s favorite game.
They’ve drawn up some plans to describe the potential mixed commercial and residential units that are most likely to work in the community, plans that have not yet won zoning approval.
The same approach guided them through other iterations: What If one subdivides the lot into even larger residential units while creating a sort of downtown district for small offices (to better serve all the lawyers, architects and artisans who’ve moved into houses quite close by); and finally, What If someone likes the restaurant as it is, but wants to expand it?
As the current mercantile license was granted back when the Filling Station still had a working gas station, there have already been additions to the number of parking spots, for example.
But with additions such as more ADA restrooms, raised patio seating in the shade and even more parking, the Filling Station could be bigger, with more seating around a brand new outdoor bar, bringing the total number of seats to over 130.
Saturday brunches and summer sunsets could be quite a bit boozier, which should please a lot of the younger people moving to the island, whether they’re seasonal or staying year round.
The location is special enough to justify almost any amount of daydreaming and conjecture, but the neighborhood itself deserves a firm hand on the tiller. This spot is part of West Cape May’s carefully curated downtown, and one way or another it has an effect on the atmosphere surrounding it.
As Menz puts it, the place deserves someone who will “re-envision it, keep it fresh and funky” as time moves ever faster, even in a place as timeless as West Cape May.
