Ducktown

In the middle of Atlantic City is the Ducktown section. Ducktown is a neighborhood located at the base of the Atlantic City Expressway, bordered by Texas Avenue, the Bay, Arkansas/Michigan Avenue, and the Atlantic City Boardwalk. Ducktown is just 0.3 square miles, but rich in heritage and history.

As one of the few neighborhoods in the city that is largely contiguous from bayfront to oceanfront, Ducktown is known for a high degree of walkability through busy shopping areas as well as quaint alleyways and narrow streets. The Ducktown section spans from Missouri Avenue to Texas Avenue and includes famous attractions such as Boardwalk Hall, Caesars Casino & Hotel, Noyes Stockton Art Garage, The Walk Outlet Shops, Angelo’s Fairmount Tavern, and many more.

Atlantic City is one of America’s most famous resort cities. Known as America’s Favorite playground, Atlantic City is on New Jersey’s Atlantic coast. The city is known for its casinos, beautiful wide beaches and iconic Boardwalk. Atlantic City was founded in the 1800s as a health resort. Today, the city is home to luxury high-rise hotels, swanky nightclubs, and high-end shopping. In addition to casino gaming, the city also has several sports books.

The Ducktown neighborhood is a tight-knit, friendly community that has welcomed immigrants for more than a century. Ducktown is historically known as an Italian-American neighborhood, but the proportion of Italian residents has decreased, as new immigrants saw Ducktown as a friendly place to live, and Ducktown is now one of the most diverse census tracts in New Jersey.

Ducktown and Atlantic City Facts

The story goes that “Ducktown” acquired its unique name from the duck hunting Italian immigrants that came here in the early 1900s, where the wildlife lived among the small farms in the area. The Italian immigrants built duck houses along the bay. Duck decoys were also made for hunters to use while hunting.

Through the 1900’s, Ducktown’s fortunes rose with the rest of Atlantic City. Atlantic City’s proximity to New York and Philadelphia made is a popular tourist destination for visitors keen on escaping the hot city for the cool seashore. The city grew quickly and offered accommodations, restaurants, entertainment and amusements for everyone. The famous Atlantic City Boardwalk featured several amusement piers, one with the famous diving horse. Headline entertainers and other shows drew millions of visitors throughout the years.

After World War 2, the City’s fortunes, and Ducktown’s, began to fall, and by the 1960’s, a city dependent upon tourists was now in decline. But In 1978, Atlantic City’s fortunes would rise again, as casino gaming came and by the mid-1980’s there were more than ten casinos. Caesars opened their casino on the boardwalk in the Ducktown section, and was joined by two other Ducktown casinos, Trump Plaza and the Playboy Hotel & Casino. The arrival of casino gaming had a positive impact and revitalized neighborhoods, funded new housing and commercial development.

However, as casinos began opening in nearby states, the increased competition required that Atlantic City diversify its attractions to stay competitive as a tourist destination. A new indoor water park opened in 2023, and more than $1 billion in new investments are planned or underway, to widen the appeal of the city beyond gaming.

By car, Ducktown is conveniently located at the entrance to the Atlantic City Expressway. The Atlantic City Rail Terminal is a short walk from Ducktown. The Atlantic City Line provides train service to Amtrak at Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station. The line also connects to the PATCO High Speed Line.

In addition to access to rail transit, Ducktown has access to several options for ground mass transit. A bus or Jitney is just a short walk away. More than a dozen NJ Transit bus lines serve the neighborhood at over 25 separate stops. The Main Jitney Route runs along Pacific Avenue, while another route passes through The Walk and Arkansas Avenue.

Atlantic City International airport is just 15 minutes away. Philadelphia Airport is just an hour away, and the New York Metropolitan airports can be reached via the Garden State Parkway.

The Ducktown Community

Non-casino shops and restaurants are nearby, led by The Walk, a $60 million retail and entertainment complex stretched over several blocks in Ducktown. Also, in Ducktown, new restaurants have opened, offering Honduran, Peruvian, French, Afghan, Vietnamese, and Bengali cuisine. These new eateries complement famous Ducktown institutions like White House Sub Shop, Doc’s Oyster House, Barbera’s Fish Market, and Angelo’s Fairmount Tavern. Ducktown once had several bakeries, and two well-known bakeries, Formica’s and Rando’s are still operating, and supply more than 40,000 loaves a day for casinos and restaurants from Brigantine to Longport.

Atlantic City has over twenty showrooms and arenas which host headliner entertainment nearly every weekend. Perhaps the most famous, and the largest arena in the city is Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall, located in Ducktown. Boardwalk Hall is a multi-purpose arena with a capacity of 18,000 people. The building opened in 1929, and hosts trade shows, concerts, sporting events, and other events at the beachfront location. The exterior of the building features a nighttime light show. Boardwalk Hall is also a National Historic Landmark, the historic home of the Miss America Pageant and boasts the largest musical instrument in the world (a pipe organ).

Two colleges are within walking distance to Ducktown. Atlantic Cape Community College (ACCC) and Stockton University both offer for-credit and Continuing Education courses at their Atlantic City campuses. Stockton’s brand new Atlantic City campus has already made important contributions to the local economy, with a new classroom building and two new dorms on the Atlantic City Boardwalk.

Dante Hall is a 250-seat performing arts center operated by Stockton University. The theater hosts various art and music productions, and is located inside the former St. Michael’s school on Mississippi Avenue.

The aptly-named Arts Garage is just that. It’s an art gallery and studio space located on the ground floor of The Walk’s parking garage. The Arts Garage is operated by the Noyes Museum of Stockton University.

Reflecting Ducktown’s multicultural heritage are several significant religious buildings. Ducktown was home to St. Michael’s, the former Catholic Church and school, which now houses Dante Hall. St. Michael’s has been cited as a focal point of the neighborhood. The Masjid Al-Hera mosque is also located in the Ducktown neighborhood, on South Florida Avenue, and serves the City’s Muslim residents. Our Lady Star of the Sea Church is the closest Catholic church to Ducktown, in Chelsea. Sree Sree Gita Sangha, is a Hindi temple is located in Ducktown on North Florida Avenue. Several other churches are nearby, including St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church, St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, and Ciudad de Luz Church.

Are there any financial/tax benefits to developing in this municipality?

Ducktown Community Development Corporation (DCDC)

The DCDC’s goal is to enhance the quality of life in the Ducktown neighborhood for residents and businesses and to promote and protect economic vitality and human health of Ducktown.

For those looking to own a home in Ducktown, there are programs to assist with down payment and financing.

The Atlantic County Improvement Authority (ACIA) offers down payment assistance programs to Atlantic City and Ducktown homebuyers. For more information, click here.

The Atlantic City Home Rebab Program is administered by the ACIA and can assist with renovations to an existing home. Download information and an application here.

The Atlantic City Housing Authority has programs for Home Ownership, Section 23 Home Ownership, and Section 8y Housing Choice Voucher Home Ownership Plan. For more information on these programs, and others, click here.

New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency’s (NJHMFA) First-Time Homebuyer Mortgage Program provides financing for eligible homebuyers purchasing in Ducktown. The program can be coupled with the NJHMFA Down Payment Assistance Program (DPA), which provides qualified homebuyers with up to $15,000 toward down payment and/or closing costs based upon the county of the property being purchased. The DPA is a forgivable loan with no interest and no monthly payments. The DPA is forgiven if the Borrower continuously resides in the premises as their principal residence for five years. Call-1-800NJHOME for details on these programs.

There are also resources for companies and developers looking to do business in Ducktown.

Ducktown Community Development Corporation (DCDC)

The DCDC’s goal is to enhance the quality of life in the Ducktown neighborhood for residents and businesses and to promote and protect economic vitality and human health of Ducktown.

Ducktown Business Micro-Grants. Grants support projects that strengthen and revitalize small businesses with five or less employees.

Façade Improvement Grants are available to business owners in Ducktown.

Design Improvement Grants are available to mixed-use properties with commercial and residential uses in Ducktown.

For more information on any of these programs. Go to acducktown.com or email [email protected]

The Neighborhood Revitalization Tax Credit (NRTC) Program, is administered by DCA’s Division of Housing and Community Resources. It is designed to spur the renewal of neighborhoods.

Nonprofit organizations can use the funding to implement revitalization plans that address housing and economic development, as well as open space improvements. The Ducktown Neighborhood Community Development Corporation helped secure funding from the state DCA’s NRTC Program for the renewal of the city’s historic and central Ducktown neighborhoods.

Corporations contribute funding to the NRTC Program and in return receive a 100 % tax credit against various New Jersey state taxes. Every year, projects from the approved revitalization plans are listed in a qualified projects pool from which corporations choose the ones they want to financially support.

Applicants must fill out the four page “Neighborhood Revitalization Tax Credit Program Business Entity Application”

The Opportunity Zones program was enacted in 2017 to promote long-term capital investments into eligible communities. This federal program provides opportunities for private investors to support investments in eligible communities through participation in Qualified Opportunity Funds. Investors can defer paying federal taxes on capital gains reinvested in Qualified Opportunity Funds that invest in these communities, under rules released by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The original gains reinvested in Qualified Opportunity Fund investments held for the long term are taxed at reduced rates. For more information, click here or email [email protected].

Local Small Business Loan Programs from the Atlantic County Improvement Authority (ACIA) 

For Atlantic County Businesses | ACIA Business Loans May be Combined with Small Business Administration Loans for Maximum Impact

Click here for details

New Jersey Economic Development Authority Business Loan and Incentives Programs 

For New Jersey Businesses | Various Loans and Incentives | Click here for details

Primary Contact

• Name: Michael Cagno
• Title: Board President
• Email: [email protected]