By MADDY VITALE
A major project to elevate Ocean Aire Condominiums, a complex in Ocean City’s south end plagued by flooding for years, is underway and on track for completion by the spring.
The units at 43rd Street and West Avenue will be done by April, weather permitting. W.A. Building Movers & Contractors Inc. is a New Jersey-based company hired by Ocean Aire to do the project.
“We are really streaming along. There are just two buildings left,” Steve Sinibaldi, vice president of the Ocean Aire Homeowners Association, said of the project’s progress. “The sixth building is going up this week and we hope to have them all up at the end of the month.”
He noted in an interview with OCNJDaily.com on Sunday that the foundations are scheduled to be poured for three to four buildings within the next month and that all foundations will be put in by February, according to Wayne Yarusi, the owner of W.A. Building Movers & Contractors.
The massive undertaking began back in November to raise the 52 units in Ocean Aire’s seven-building complex anywhere from 6.5 feet to 7.5 feet off the ground, depending on the flood maps, Sinibaldi explained. The elevation will put the units well above the floodwaters that rise during coastal storms and heavy rains.
As elevation work continues, there is also utility work going on.
“Atlantic City Electric installed new poles and the power is on and Comcast is working on getting services back on,” Sinibaldi noted.
For years, residents spoke out about the flooding. Sinibaldi was at the forefront seeking help from city officials to have the complex raised up.
The city was awarded a $3 million federal grant to elevate the condo complex to protect it from floodwaters that seep out of the surrounding marshlands and back bay. The Federal Emergency Management Agency agreed to fund the entire project and will reimburse the city for the cost. The city approved the funding upfront to enable the project to get started.
Sinibaldi and his wife, Eileen, purchased their first-floor unit in 2014. The Havertown, Pa., couple come down throughout the year to enjoy their shore home.
“We go down year-round,” Eileen Sinibaldi said. “We aren’t just summer residents. We missed being down there for Thanksgiving and Christmas. It is a respite that we really miss.”
Steve Sinibaldi added that the city has been extremely helpful in making the project possible. He also said that the company doing the work is exceptional.
“The most important part was all of us picking the right company for the job, and we did,” he said.
Since November, the Sinibaldis have come down regularly to check on their unit and the project’s progress. They also visit with friends who live in Ocean City.
They are looking forward to a time in the near future when they can move back into their condo.
They set up a Facebook page, Ocean Aire OCNJ, for the residents to go on and post photos and chat about the latest developments with the project.
Eileen Alice Ward is among some of the condo residents who chronicle the daily progress and post photos on Facebook.
Ward is a full-time resident who, like the others, has temporarily relocated during the work.
After the job is completed, the Sinibaldis said there will likely be some sort of ceremony to officially welcome residents back into their improved homes.
“The residents are super-positive about the work. Steve worked on this like a job, every day, for hours a day,” Eileen Sinibaldi said of her husband’s work to help make the project possible. “I know the other members of the board (of the condo association) do their share, too.”
