OCEAN CITY — A four-story mixed-use building may replace the former Knight’s Pharmacy after the Ocean City Planning Board granted multiple variances and major site plan approval to First Knight 916 Wesley LLC on April 5.
The company, owned by brother Raj and Yogi Khatiwala, received necessary approvals to build a four-story building with a 3,132-square-foot commercial entity on the first floor and four five-bedroom condominiums on the upper three floors.
Under Eclat Investments, the brothers also own the Crown Bank building at 801 Asbury Ave., The Forum at 800 Atlantic Ave., The Scarborough Inn at 720 Ocean Ave., The Pavilion at 801 Atlantic Ave., The Beach House at 819 Moorlyn Terrace, Stainton’s A Gallery of Shops at 810 Asbury Ave., Stainton’s Gallery by the Sea at 1216 Boardwalk, the Bluewater Inn at Eighth Street and Ocean Avenue and the Ocean Breeze Hotel at 724 Ocean Ave.
According to documents, the 10,500-square-foot corner property, located in the Central Business Zone, currently has a one-story commercial building and parking lot.
The applicants were seeking approval for a conditional use, preliminary and final major site plan and variances for front porches, front setback, habitable stories, first-floor ceiling height and commercial floor area.
Retail sales and services, banks, professional offices, restaurants, essential services and contractors’ offices are permitted commercial uses in the zone, while the residential component is a conditional use.
One requested variance sought a 5-foot front yard setback where 10 feet is required and 3.5 feet exists. Another was for four habitable stories where three are allowed and one exists.
Parking also was part of the discussion. There currently are 17 parking spots. Sixteen spaces are proposed for the residential units, while regulations require only three per unit.
The applicant requested variance approval for commercial spaces based on the number required for a bank, which is 12, but would provide zero.
Another parking issue involved a variance for a 1.7-foot setback where 4 feet is required and 2 feet exists.
The plan also falls short on minimum square footage for a first-floor commercial building. It would be 3,132 square feet where 5,250 feet is required and 2,338 exists.
Finally, the applicants sought a variance for a 10-foot first-floor height instead of the required 12 feet and another for having no loading zone.
Knight’s Pharmacy was owned and operated by Henry “Bud” Knight, who served as Ocean City’s mayor from 1992 to 2006. He died March 7, 2015, at 82.
He served in municipal government for 40 years, as a member of the city’s planning board, city council and finally as its mayor.
Born in New Brunswick in 1932, Knight grew up in South River. He moved to Ocean City in 1960 after graduating from Rutgers College of Pharmacy in 1955 and becoming a registered pharmacist in 1956.
Knight purchased Hughes Central Pharmacy on Eighth Street and Wesley Avenue and bought a pharmacy diagonally across from it in 1968 and called the business Knight’s Pharmacy. He worked there until he sold the pharmacy in 2000.
– STORY By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff