Work crews on Saturday demolished a three-story oceanfront retreat that had stood watch at 31st Street and Central Avenue for more than a century.
The two landmark light-blue buildings of the De La Salle Christian Brothers Ocean Rest Educational Center were leveled to make way for a subdivision that includes four duplexes.
The Christian Brothers have been in the same location in Ocean City since 1898, and the retreat on an 8-acre oceanfront property was a prominent feature of the central Ocean City skyline. The land is private property and owned by the Christian Brothers, a Catholic order that announced in January 2013 that it could not afford the multimillion-dollar renovation that would be necessary to make the buildings habitable.
The state fire marshal had prohibited the Brothers from using the top floors of the buildings about five or six years ago, and in 2011 they were prevented from using the second floors. The structures had 19th-century plumbing. They did not conform to modern fire code or Disabilities Act requirements, and they had no heating or air-conditioning system.
The Brothers sought feedback in January 2012 on a plan to demolish one building and sell two lots for residential development, then use the proceeds to fix the other building for continuing use by the Brothers.
The new plan calls for four residential properties that conform with existing residential zoning. The four lots would extend from Central Avenue to the beach and be twice as big as the required lot size. The Brothers intend to keep one, maybe two, of the lots for continued use as a retreat and sell the others, attorney Steve Nehmad told the Ocean City Planning Board in June 2013.
Brother James Martino, director of administration for the District of Eastern North America, told neighbors last year that it was only with a great deal of regret that the Brothers came to the financial decision. The Christian Brothers, also known as the Brother of the Christian Schools, have been in the same location in Ocean City since the 1800s. The northern building included a chapel that was open for summer Masses.
(Video above courtesy of Ron Denney.)
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