OCEAN CITY – Officials say the town will soon seek bids for the renovation and remodel of a second museum location.
On Tuesday, City Engineer Paul Mauser and Ocean City Life-Saving Station Museum Curator Christine Okerblom presented the Mayor and Council with an update regarding the museum’s efforts to restore the former Bank of Ocean City building at the corner of Dorchester Street and South Baltimore Avenue.
With plans to reconstruct the roof and improve both the interior and exterior, Mauser said the town is hoping to start construction by Oct. 24.
“Given the location we’re not looking to rush into any work that’s going to impede in the extended season Ocean City has,” he told the council. “We’re very mindful of the October events the town has, and we want to avoid those. A seven-month construction has us wrapped up by Memorial Day of 2024.”
In December 2019, the Bank of Ocean City closed its downtown branch. But instead of selling the property, it was donated to the Town of Ocean City for the museum’s use. Since that time, city officials have worked with museum staff to secure grant funding and complete design work for the development of a second museum location.
Mauser told the council this week the town had secured $625,000 in grant funds and private donations for the project. And to date, the town has spent more than $38,000 on demolition work and more than $40,000 on design. Construction costs are estimated at $550,000.
“If you do the math, we’re currently $4,000 over budget on a $625,000 project,” he said. “So we’re going to leave the project as is. I feel confident that with competitive bidding we will try to price down. If not, we’re going to bid it as line items, where we can remove line items as necessary to meet the budget.”
Mauser said the goal is to publicly bid the project in mid-May and open submitted bids in front of the council at its July 11 work session. Once the project is awarded to a contractor, construction would start in October.
Officials say the plans call for a complete restoration of the building’s exterior, bringing the structure back to its 1914 design. On the inside, both the first and second floors will be remodeled to include new HVAC, plumbing, electrical, flooring and paint.
“Once that is all completed, we turn the building over to the museum as essentially an open shell, more or less,” Mauser said.
Okerblom told the council the museum has plans to use the building as a second location. With limited space at its Inlet facility, she said the second location will allow for more exhibits and programs, among other things.
“Taking on the bank building will further meet our mission,” she said. “This building will allow for new exhibits, room for our growing collection, programs and research space for the public.”
Okerblom said the first floor will serve as the main exhibit hall and will provide open space for programs and community events. Potential exhibits could display the history of downtown Ocean City, the history of Native Americans, and the history of the town’s hotels and restaurants.
She said the first and second floors will also feature research space.
“This will provide space where the public can access museum archival records and view historical maps, photographs and other items in the museum’s collections,” she said.
The second floor, Okerblom said, will also include office space and archival storage. She noted the museum has nearly 30,000 artifacts, but that most are kept in an off-site storage facility.
“The bank building will allow us to store those items onsite,” she said.
