$23 million construction contract awarded for Ocean City housing project

After months of delays and uncertainty, Ocean City’s public housing agency has finally hired a construction contractor for what will be its largest project ever.

At its Sept. 12 board meeting, the Ocean City Housing Authority awarded a $23 million contract to Gary F. Gardner Inc. of Medford, Burlington County, for the proposed 60-unit Pecks Beach Village affordable housing complex.

The housing authority had previously rejected competitive bids for the project on three separate occasions between September 2023 and July 2024. Each time, the authority said the bids far exceeded the estimated cost of the project.

Gardner was the only contractor that took part in the most recent round of bidding in July. However, the authority rejected Gardner’s bid of $23.2 million then.

This time, the authority bypassed the public bidding process and negotiated directly with Gardner to get a better price on the contract. In New Jersey, public agencies are allowed to negotiate a contract if at least two previous attempts at public bidding were unsuccessful.

“It came down to the best final offer,” Jacqueline Jones, executive director of the housing authority, explained of the negotiations with Gardner.

The proposed Pecks Beach Village project will provide affordable housing for local families within 15 duplex-style buildings containing an average of four units each. It will be built on the north side of Fourth Street.

The existing 40-unit Pecks Beach Village complex on the south side of Fourth Street will be demolished when the new project is completed.

“No one will lose their housing,” Jones said of the residents in the existing Pecks Beach Village moving over to the new project when it is completed.

    Vacant land on the north side of Fourth Street is the site for the proposed housing complex.
  

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.

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.

In 2021, the authority completed a nearly $7 million affordable housing project for senior citizens at Sixth Street and West Avenue in downtown Ocean City. Dubbed Speitel Commons, the 32-unit building was hailed as a success for integrating affordable housing in the heart of Ocean City with attractive architecture that blended in with the surrounding neighborhoods.

Although a contractor has been hired for the proposed Pecks Beach Village project, the funding plan still must be formally approved by the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency at its Dec. 12 board meeting.

“It has to be committed by December,” Jones said of the funding package.

Financing for the project will consist of a mix of grants and loans from the New Jersey Housing and 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.

“Ocean City has been a tremendous partner with us in the last few years in building our projects,” Jones said.

Another critical step is for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to sign off on the project. Jones said the hope is that HUD will give its approval by early summer 2025.

Once construction begins, it is expected to take about 18 months to finish the project, a timetable that would put completion around late 2026 or early 2027, Jones said.

    The existing Pecks Beach Village housing complex dates to the 1960s.