By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Signs posted at the front entrance of Sea Isle City’s former public school include the ominous warning: “No trespassing. This building is closed to the public. Violators will be prosecuted.”
The landmark building that has been a fixture at 4501 Park Road for 51 years is being prepared for demolition to create room for development of the city’s proposed $20 million community recreation center.
As a prelude to demolition, the city has awarded a $116,000 contract to remove cancer-causing asbestos from the old school. Asbestos was a common insulation material for pipes when the building was constructed in 1971.
“It’s totally expected with a building built in that time period,” City Business Administrator George Savastano said of the presence of asbestos in the former school.
The city has hired Plymouth Environmental Co. Inc. of Norristown, Pa., to remove the asbestos. The company has extensive experience performing asbestos abatement at schools, colleges, healthcare facilities, industrial centers and other sites, according to its website.
Asbestos removal will allow the city to move forward with the demolition of the old school. Savastano said bids for the demolition contract are expected to be solicited within the next two months. Barring delays, the building will be torn down by the end of the year, he noted.
Tentatively, construction on the new community recreation center is expected to begin next spring or summer and take about two years to complete, Savastano said.
“Hopefully, it opens for the summer of 2025,” he said in an interview Friday.
Sea Isle once planned to complete the community center in 2023, then revised the timetable to 2024, before pushing it back again to 2025. The timetable has changed as the project has methodically moved through the different preliminary stages leading up the old school’s demolition and then construction of the new building.
City bonds will pay for the demolition of the old school and construction of the community center.
The city initially estimated the cost at between $10 million and $15 million, then revised it upward to between $13 million and $16 million, before settling on the current price tag of $20 million. Soaring construction costs nationwide caused by the COVID-19 pandemic were blamed by city officials for the escalating price.
City officials say the community center would have only a “minimal impact” on local taxes. Leon Costello, the city auditor, has estimated the project would cause local taxes to increase about $90 annually on a home assessed at $1 million.
The city’s architect and engineer are working on the final designs for the project. Preliminary architectural renderings unveiled last year depict a two-story building dominated by a glossy facade and accented by plenty of landscaping. The front entrance will overlook Central Avenue.
City officials say they want to have an attractive building that blends into the neighborhood and does not look “institutional.”
The building’s proposed design reflects its dual role as a community center and recreation facility. There will be a large gymnasium, indoor walkway and workout space for recreation. The building will also include space that local community groups could use for meetings, events and other activities.
Parking will be built both underneath the community center and next to it at ground level. The building itself will be constructed above flood levels to protect it from coastal storms.
The community center will occupy the block bordered by Park Road, Central Avenue, 45th Street and 46th Street.
The old school closed in 2012 due to Sea Isle’s declining student population and is currently not being used. It is showing signs of deterioration, including crumbling concrete on the front steps, overgrown weeds and the overall declining appearance of the building’s facade.
