For the third time in 10 months, the Ocean City Housing Authority has rejected construction bids for a proposed 60-unit affordable housing development and will now use a different tactic to try to hire a contractor.
At its monthly board meeting Tuesday, the authority rejected a $23.2 million bid for the proposed Pecks Beach Village project received from Gary F. Gardner Inc. of Medford, Burlington County. Gardner was the only contractor that took part in the most recent round of bidding.
Previously, the authority rejected construction bids in September 2023 and then this past June . Each time, the authority said the bids far exceeded the estimated $18 million cost of the project.
The authority now plans to negotiate directly with contractors to see if changes could be made with the project to reduce the cost instead of going through the formal competitive bidding process for a fourth time. The authority intends to reach out to all of the companies that previously submitted bids and perhaps others in hopes of getting a better price.
“If approved, the authority would act as soon as possible,” Michael Watson, the authority’s solicitor, said of hiring a contractor if negotiations are successful.
During their meeting, the board members convened in closed session to discuss their options for hiring a contractor. When they returned to the public session, they voted 7-0 to reject Gardner’s bid and to instead enter into direct negotiations with contractors.
The existing family-style homes at Pecks Beach Village will be demolished after the new housing project is built.
Bob Barr, the authority’s chairman, expressed confidence that the project could still be built without serious delays, despite the difficulties of hiring a contractor.
“This is a very similar process that we went through with Speitel. We’ll be fine,” Barr said in an interview after the meeting.
In 2021, the authority completed a nearly $7 million affordable housing project for senior citizens at Sixth Street and West Avenue in downtown Ocean City. Dubbed Speitel Commons, the 32-unit building was hailed as a success for integrating affordable housing in the heart of Ocean City with attractive architecture that blended in with the surrounding neighborhoods.
The authority’s next major project will be the 60-unit Pecks Beach Village complex on the north side of Fourth Street. It will provide affordable housing for local families within 15 duplex-style buildings containing four units each.
The existing 40-unit Pecks Beach Village complex on the south side of Fourth Street will be demolished when the new project is completed.
Jacqueline Jones, the authority’s executive director, said the hope is to award the construction contract by the end of this year and break ground sometime in 2025. The project will take an estimated 18 months to complete.
The proposed construction site on Fourth Street remains vacant for now.
Financing for the project will consist of a mix of grants and loans from the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, funding from the city of Ocean City and tax credits given to private investors.
The project will help Ocean City meet its state-mandated obligation to provide its “fair share” of affordable housing under a court settlement in 2018.
It is a centerpiece of the authority’s strategy to modernize its affordable housing stock with new, attractive units for families now living in the existing Pecks Beach Village, a complex dating to the 1960s.
Representatives of the housing authority have repeatedly stressed that the development will reflect the agency’s philosophy to build new projects that are compatible with the surrounding neighborhoods.
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