By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
The Ocean City Housing Authority on Tuesday rejected construction bids for a proposed 60-unit affordable housing development that would replace the 1960s-era Pecks Beach Village housing complex.
Jacqueline Jones, the authority’s executive director, called the bids “grossly over budget” and explained that they would be “insurmountable” within the financial framework of the project.
Of the two bids that were received Sept. 12, the lowest one was for about $22.6 million, far above the prebid estimate of $18 million, Jones said.
The authority will now seek new bids, a process that is expected to cause about a two-month delay as the project transitions from the planning phase to actual construction.
Bob Barr, the housing authority’s chairman, said the extra time will allow the agency to explore its options and to make sure that it is spending millions of dollars in the right way.
“I see it as being a relatively minor thing,” Barr said of the delay. “The most important thing when we spend millions of dollars is to do it wisely. I would think the taxpayers would think it’s the most important thing as well.”
Construction is expected to begin next year and take an estimated 18 months to complete, which would put the grand opening sometime in 2025 or 2026, the authority has said.
Financing for the project will consist of a mix of grants and loans from the New Jersey Housing 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.
When it rebids the project, the housing authority may possibly consider a different tactic to lower the overall cost, Jones told the agency’s board members during their monthly meeting Tuesday.
For the next round of bids, the authority may break the project into two different construction contracts. Under that scenario, one contract would be for demolition, site work and street improvements and the other would consist of the actual construction of the 60 new units of affordable housing.
Jones stressed that no decisions have been made yet whether to break the project into two separate contracts.
The authority plans to discuss its options with the consultant who helping to guide the agency through the planning, financing and construction of the project, Jones said.
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.
Meanwhile, the existing 40 units of family housing at Pecks Beach Village on the south side of Fourth Street will remain until the housing authority builds the new 60 units on vacant land on the north side of Fourth Street. The 40-unit complex will likely be demolished in stages as residents move into the new development.
The design of the new project would feature 15 duplex-style buildings containing four units each for the families living there, housing authority officials said during a presentation made before the Ocean City Planning Board last April.
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.
However, Jones raised the possibility that the authority might consider redesigning the project to look more like condominiums – instead of duplexes – to reduce the overall cost. She emphasized that the authority would much rather stick with the original designs for duplex-style housing.
“The other option would be a redesign, and the redesign would look something like a condo that you see around town,” Jones said during the board meeting.
“That’s not what we’re really thinking about right now,” she added.
Brian Broadley, one of the board members, strongly stated that he would not be favor of redesigning the project for condos.
“The whole reason we started this process was so these (duplex-style) houses resemble the neighborhood. I think there’s got to be different angles than redesign,” Broadley said.
Jones responded to Broadley by saying, “Yes, we don’t disagree.”
