Funds Eyed For Downtown Demolition Work

OCEAN CITY — The City Council voted unanimously to pass a resolution this week to authorize the Ocean City Development Corporation (OCDC) to submit a funding application to the new Maryland Strategic Demolition and Smart Growth Impact Fund to pay for the demolition costs of the proposed Fat Daddy’s mixed use project at 210 and 216 S. Baltimore Avenue.

According to OCDC Executive Director Glenn Irwin, the property owners have desired to construct a new mixed-use project with a larger Fat Daddy’s restaurant and retail bay on the first floor and seasonal housing units on the second floor. However, the present main building’s two upper floors are uninhabitable and have not been occupied for over two years.

Irwin explained the property owners have had difficulties finding conventional financing to undertake the project. The OCDC is an eligible entity to submit this application and the proposed project is an eligible project for the state program.

The application will request $90,000 towards the demolition costs of the project. The overall project costs, not including land value are estimated to be approximately $900,000.

About The Author: Steven Green

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The writer has been with The Dispatch in various capacities since 1995, including serving as editor and publisher since 2004. His previous titles were managing editor, staff writer, sports editor, sales account manager and copy editor. Growing up in Salisbury before moving to Berlin, Green graduated from Worcester Preparatory School in 1993 and graduated from Loyola University Baltimore in 1997 with degrees in Communications (journalism concentration) and Political Science.