October 26, 2026
Thom Carroll/For PhillyVoice
Lucy the Elephant will undergo an interior renovation and receive a new visitors center after receiving a $5.4 million tax credit from New Jersey.
Lucy the Elephant, the 64-foot-tall landmark in Margate, is moving forward with an improvement plan after receiving a $5.4 million tax credit from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority.
The tax credit, approved unanimously, will help fund a new visitor and interpretive center, interior restorations and upgrades to the park around the gigantic elephant. The improvements are intended to preserve the site for future generations and build a visitors center worthy of "one of New Jersey's most beloved landmarks," the site said in a social media post.
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"This is an extraordinary day for Lucy," Executive Director Richard Helfant said in a statement. "After 17 months of uncertainty and perseverance, we have finally reached a turning point."
Groundbreaking for the project is expected to begin in April, Shore Local reported, and be completed in mid-2028.
Plans to restore Lucy the Elephant and expand the site around the landmark have been in the works for years. In 2025, the Save the Lucy Committee secured $800,000 for site improvements from a $300,000 state grant and $500,000 from the National Park Service's Save America's Treasures program. But the federal funds later were revoked by President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency. In response, Lucy supporters raised $200,000 in private donations and another $350,000 after reapplying for the same government grant in March to cover the renovations.
The planned upgrades will make the site accessible to people with disabilities, which the site has sought for two decades.
In June 2025, the 50-year-old gift shop outside the structure was demolished to make room for the interpretive center.
Lucy is the last of three elephant-shaped buildings designed by Philadelphia real estate developer James Lafferty. She was built in 1881. In the 1960s, she was saved from demolition after she was designated as a city-owned property. The Jersey Shore attraction was later designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976 and in 2022, she underwent a $2.4 million restoration project where she was fitted with a new metal exterior.
