By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
After more than five years of planning, designs and public feedback, Sea Isle City will break ground this spring on its community recreation center following the award of a $21 million construction contract for the project.
Voting 5-0 at a meeting Tuesday, City Council formally awarded the contract to Ernest Bock & Sons Inc., a Philadelphia company that has built a diversified portfolio of public and private projects during its 75-year history.
Bock & Sons submitted the lowest bid for the community center project in December among five companies that competed for the contract. The state Comptroller’s Office scrutinized the construction documents to make sure the contract met all of the requirements before it was formally approved by Council.
Mayor Leonard Desiderio said at the Council meeting that the contract “represents the culmination of years of planning, review, public participation, architectural and engineering design, and plain old hard work and grassroots efforts.”
He predicted that the facility will be a hub for community gatherings, programs, activities and events while serving Sea Isle residents “for generations to come.”
“I want to thank City Council, city staff, and the public for all of their efforts to bring us to this point. We look forward to a big turnout at our soon-to-be scheduled groundbreaking ceremony,” he said.
He added that Bock & Sons will be authorized to begin construction after the contract is finalized within the next couple of weeks, which should place the groundbreaking sometime in March or April.
Construction is tentatively expected to take 2 to 2½ years to complete, Desiderio said. City officials will meet with Bock & Sons soon to nail down the construction schedule. Barring unexpected delays, the project would be finished sometime in 2026.
On its website https://www.ernestbock.com/ the company says that it adds “the wow factor” in the projects it builds, including entertainment, education, housing, government and healthcare facilities for the public and private sector.
Some of its notable projects include the $40 million Atlantic County criminal courthouse complex in Mays Landing, the second phase of the Montgomery County (Pa.) Justice Center and a $70 million, 19-story building at 101 Walnut Street in Philadelphia.
It also built the 227-foot-tall Ferris wheel-like attraction at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City and the Philadelphia Flyers practice facility in Voorhees, N.J.
To make room for construction of the community center, the city demolished the old Sea Isle City Public School at 4501 Park Road last spring. The community center will occupy the same footprint of the old school on the block bordered by Park Road, Central Avenue, 45th Street and 46th Street.
The building’s design went through a number of iterations before the final concept was created. The design reflects the facility’s 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 may use for meetings, events and other activities.
Architectural renderings released earlier for the community center show a two-story building featuring a glossy facade overlooking Central Avenue. Sea Isle officials say the building will include attractive architecture to blend in with the rest of the neighborhood.
As a prelude to construction, a massive pile of soil, also known as fill, was placed at the site last June and is undergoing a process known as “surcharging” for several months.
Surcharging will allow the soil to become compact enough for the community center’s foundation to be built on top of it without settling.
