By MADDY VITALE
The Ocean City Housing Authority went out to bid Tuesday for a 60-unit affordable housing development that will replace the aging Pecks Beach Village family complex.
Jacqueline Jones, the Housing Authority’s executive director, said the agency expects to award the contract in September as the project transitions from the planning stage to actual construction in the next few months.
“If there are good numbers, then the work would start in the spring,” Jones said of the bid prices.
The project 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.
Vacant land on the north side of Fourth Street is the site for the housing complex.
Altogether, the 60-unit project will include four units that have one bedroom, 32 units with two bedrooms, 22 units with three bedrooms and two units with four bedrooms.
A total of 40 units will be subsidized housing, while the remaining 20 units will be considered affordable, unsubsidized units commonly known as “workforce housing.”
The price tag has been estimated at $22 million to $23 million, but Jones noted during the Housing Authority’s monthly board meeting Tuesday that the actual cost won’t be known until the bids come back and are reviewed.
Construction is expected to begin in spring and take an estimated 18 months to complete, which would put the grand opening in late 2025 or early 2026, officials said.
In another Housing Authority project, five duplexes offering a total of 10 units of affordable rental housing are nearly completed in town. Each unit has either two or three bedrooms.
Two duplexes are at 3300 Bay Ave. at the former American Legion post property, another two are located at 240-244 Haven Ave. and the fifth at 224 Simpson Ave.
Jones said that applications came in for the units and the selection process for tenants will take some time, especially since there are strict guidelines, such as household size of two to six people, income requirements and credit and criminal background checks. There were 250 applications that came in. Of that number, the authority will narrow it down to 50 and then select 10 from there.
“There are a lot of applications with only one person on the application. They didn’t qualify because you need two people for a two-bedroom home,” Jones explained.
Jones said the applicants will know where they stand.
“We will send a letter to the top 50 applicants and to the other 200 we will say that at this point, they will be kept on a waiting list. Everyone will be kept informed,” she said.
Scott Halliday, authority vice president, asked Jones for a timeline of when applicants will know they are selected.
Jones noted that she will go over the applications and they will be sent up to the state within the next day or two.
“We will start to contact applicants probably next week. That will start the process,” she said.
