Old Downtown Building Razed To Make Way For Retail, Seasonal Housing

Old Downtown Building Razed To Make Way For Retail, Seasonal Housing
Old Downtown

OCEAN CITY — Demolition began this week on a decades-old building on a prominent downtown street corner, paving the way for a new building with some retail on the ground floor and a considerable amount of seasonal employee housing.

Around midday on Wednesday, giant claw machines began systematically tearing away at the top floors of the mixed-use commercial and residential building at the corner of 1st Street and Baltimore Avenue which had stood for decades in the downtown area. The building for years contained first-floor commercial space and two upper-story apartments, but in 2015, city inspectors tagged it as “not to be occupied,” or essentially condemned due to severe structure issues.

Due to the extent of the structural issues and the potential cost to repair or rehabilitate the old building, it was determined to be not economically feasible to save it. Last July, the Ocean City Development Corporation (OCDC) began working with the property owner, Lorenda Birch, and her engineer MAD Engineering, on a plan to replace the aging and failing structure. The OCDC worked with the property owner to submit an application to the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development for a strategic demolition grant.

The application included provisions stating if the state demolition grant was provided, the property owner would construct a new three-story building on the same site with some first-floor retail elements and seasonal employee housing on the top two floors that would contain roughly 40 beds. It’s no secret there is a shortage of seasonal employee housing in the resort and there have been numerous attempts at adding more with various projects in the planning pipeline and the new building at 1st Street fits the bill.

In December, the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development approved a $65,000 grant for the project to cover the cost of demolition and other predevelopment costs associated with the project. Demolition began on Wednesday and the lot will likely be mostly cleared by the end of the week. The new building will go through the planning protocols likely this summer and construction on the new building could begin as soon as next fall. OCDC Executive Director Glenn Irwin said the project is another good example of the quasi-public agency’s efforts to revitalize the downtown area with creative projects supported by grant funding.

“This project will be another very good example of removing a building in very poor condition and constructing a new building that will fit very well into the downtown area,” he said. “This building is on a very visible corner and its proposed mixed uses are perfect for downtown Ocean City.”

About The Author: Shawn Soper

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Shawn Soper has been with The Dispatch since 2000. He began as a staff writer covering various local government beats and general stories. His current positions include managing editor and sports editor. Growing up in Baltimore before moving to Ocean City full time three decades ago, Soper graduated from Loch Raven High School in 1981 and from Towson University in 1985 with degrees in mass communications with a journalism concentration and history.