OCEAN CITY — The city’s award-winning downtown shopping district is set to get a lot more parking after City Council approved purchasing the building at 846 Central Ave. on Aug. 7.
The acquisition will give the city nearly an entire block of parking just a block east of Asbury Avenue.
City Council approved a bond ordinance to spend $960,000 to acquire the building at the northeast corner of Central Avenue and Ninth Street.
City Solicitor Dorothy McCrosson said the lease for the restaurant downstairs, Maria’s Cafe, expires at the end of the year and a tenant lease upstairs expires earlier.
The city has a public lot across from the police station on Central Avenue and behind City Hall. The city purchased the private lots on Central that had been part of the former Crown Bank building property at 801 Asbury Ave., now The Shoppes at the Asbury. The city then purchased the small former frame shop next to the restaurant.
With the acquisition and later demolition of those last two buildings, the city would have public lots virtually from Eighth to Ninth streets on Central.
McCrosson said the city administration has looked at purchasing the property several times.
“In 2022, we had drawings done that show how that parking lot could be reconfigured to maximize the number of parking spaces,” she said, noting that the new purchase would add 17 spots to the capacity.
“More importantly, it provides the potential for the entire half-block in light of other acquisitions that are contemplated,” she said.
– By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff