Symbolic groundbreaking for new terminal building in Ocean City
OCEAN CITY — With benefactor Leon Grisbaum front and center, Ocean City symbolically broke ground on a new terminal building at the Municipal Airport on Bay Avenue.
Mayor Jay Gillian, members of Ocean City Council and the Cape May County Commissioners and U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew used their gold-painted shovels to throw a bit of sand onto the tarmac at the airport Oct. 15, but ground won’t actually be broken until some time in 2025 on what is expected to be a $10 million facility.
Grisbaum, a local real estate businessman and longtime pilot, pledged $3 million to the project. According to Ocean City Chief Financial Officer Frank Donato and Airport Manager Todd Dwyer, the city hopes to get about $3.5 million in a grant by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and will provide the rest of the cost.
The three-story building will be constructed a little to the east of the current terminal, which dates from the 1950s, because of the height of the new building relative to the runaway.
The ground floor will be mostly used for storage with the airport offices, a pilot lounge, golf pro shop for the adjacent municipal golf course, a little welcome center, and restrooms on the second floor with the third floor reserved for a restaurant with windows allowing patrons to watch the planes take off and land.
“I can’t thank him enough,” Gillian said during a small ceremony. “He’s worked so hard with Berger Realty.
“We gave him our word — council and me — we’re going to make a beautiful facility here,” the mayor added. “I just want to thank you. I know you’re anxious, you’re like me, you want it done already.”
Van Drew called Grisbaum a remarkable and extraordinary individual, remarking on how spry he was for being 96 years old.
“Thank you for what you’ve done for Ocean City,” the congressman said. “I’m the vice chair of the Transportation Committee in Congress and I’m also on the Aviation Subcommittee as well and we see a lot of projects. It’s not all that often that somebody comes forward with his own treasure and says this is important to the city, it’s important for everything we believe in, and I’m going to give my own money. I call that Americanism.”
Grisbaum, who noted he was told he was too old to fly when he turned 90 (and was about to take flight), said pilots relish the opportunity to fly to different airports and eat in restaurants, something he wants to help return to Ocean City.
“We have lost all of our restaurants. Years ago we had a ton of restaurants. I want to make this (new terminal) big enough and put glass all around the top … so if your daughter is getting married, you have a place to take her to have an affair,” he said.
“I remember the days when we used to close the airport because there was no place to land. It was filled. But there is really no reason to come here unless you can eat or go to the beach or something like that,” Grisbaum added.
With a new terminal and restaurant, he said, “I think it will all come back. I really do.”
Gillian said one of the holdups on getting this project going is that the city has been applying for grants to offset the cost. “We’ve been trying to get millions of dollars from the FAA. I think we’re getting close to finding out if we’re getting it again. And if we don’t, we might have to downsize a bit, but we’ll have a beautiful building here.
“We’re going to take as long as we can so you’re going to have to stick around,” he joked with Grisbaum.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he replied, drawing applause from city officials and others gathered for the ceremony.
Dwyer noted the airport sees roughly 20,000 “operations” a year. “It could be military, residential, recreational flyers, commercial pilots, charter pilots. We have a lot of touch-and-goes with with the Coast Guard daily. That’s just operations daily. It equates to about 50 a day. A little more in season and a little less in the offseason.”
– STORY and PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff