By MADDY VITALE and DONALD WITTKOWSKI
When the norm seems to be knocking down old homes in shore communities, there are some developers who not only choose to go the route of renovation, but pride themselves in restoring the old with the goal of bringing it back to its original grandeur.
Raymond Gaiser, managing member of SLP Ventures, is one of those developers.
“I love historic homes,” Gaiser said. “It is one of the things I do. I love walking into an old home and seeing what it could be.”
He purchased a circa 1916 home, which features an American Foursquare architectural style, located at 341 Central Avenue in Ocean City in August for $610,000.
It is in the Historic District. The Historic District stretches between Third and Eighth streets and Central and Ocean avenues. Homes from the late 19th and early 20th centuries line the streets.
Gaiser, whose firm specializes in renovations in the Haddonfield area, will go before the Historic Preservation Commission Tuesday at 6 p.m. in City Hall to seek approvals to renovate the property and elevate it.
Currently, the two-story home has five units. Gaiser hopes to create two units, one on the bottom and one on the top. And, if approved, he may want to use one as a summer home.
“I would love to be in that part of town,” he said of a possible vacation home.
And while the price tag may seem like a bargain in Ocean City, where the average home prices are nearing the $1 million mark, Gaiser knows he has a lot of work ahead and will be putting a lot of money into the project.
“Right now, the units are in shambles. There are five separate units. We want to keep the front part of the house intact and bring it up to code,” he said.
The additions that had no historic significance would be demolished, he said.
Avery Teitler, Gaiser’s attorney, said in a report to the Historic Preservation Commission dated March 14, “All historic areas of the building are being preserved.”
Once approved, the hope it to have a good portion of the renovation completed within a year, Gaiser noted.
“I can’t wait to start,” he said, adding that he found the property through a local realtor.
The Historic District is governed by ordinances designed to preserve the character of the neighborhoods near the Ocean City Tabernacle, where Ocean City was founded and first settled.
In a report dated March 27 about Gaiser’s application, Michael Calafati, the architect representing the Historic Preservation Commission, said the project plan would be to keep the original wood frame residence. The “non-historic” additions would be demolished. Then the home would be raised and shifted back on the lot and expanded.
“Its massing, solid proportions and symmetrical placement of door and window openings as it faces the street, and lack of exuberant ornamentation are hallmarks of this architectural style,” Calafati noted of the American Foursquare style. “The building is an asset to its neighborhood, the block and its historic district.”
He further noted that Gaiser’s application “could provide more opportunities to benefit the Historic District.
“Surviving, but hidden character-defining features such as the wood clapboard siding, trim, door/window casings, rakeboards, and overhanging eaves and soffits should be investigated with an eye toward their retention, repair and reuse,” Calafati said in a report to the commission. “Doing so could help reverse layers of ill-informed alterations and further the goals of preservation in the Historic District.”
