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The former Springfield Inn site, now vacant and closed off by a construction fence, will be transformed into an upscale outdoor bar and restaurant this summer.

By DONALD WITTKOWSKI

The landmark Springfield Inn in Sea Isle City was reduced to a pile of rubble early this month when a demolition company tore down the building, leaving an empty beachfront property awaiting redevelopment.

In a final act for the old bar, City Council on Tuesday approved the transfer of the Springfield Inn’s liquor license to a company that plans to build a new attraction that will fit in with Sea Isle’s increasingly higher-end image.

The liquor license transfer was approved by a 4-0 vote at a Council meeting held by teleconference amid the pandemic. Councilman Frank Edwardi abstained from voting to avoid any potential conflicts of interest. Edwardi’s demolition company, Pineland Construction & Recycling, tore down the Springfield.

The famously casual Springfield Inn is being replaced by an upscale island-themed outdoor bar and restaurant called the The Point at Sea Isle City. It will be modeled after a similar project, also called The Point, that has been a success in Somers Point.

Gary Holloway, founder of GMH Restaurant Holdings III, the developer of The Point, promises that his Sea Isle project will be a unique attraction bringing a whole new vibe to the beach resort.

In an interview early this month, Holloway said the transition from the deteriorated old Springfield Inn to The Point is an improvement that “can only go up a thousand percent.”

Holloway said he plans to have the new outdoor bar ready in time for Memorial Day weekend, the traditional start of the bustling summer tourism season.

Excavators cleared away the rubble from the old Springfield Inn after it was demolished.

Owned by the Bisciotti family, the Springfield Inn occupied the corner of 43rd Street and Pleasure Avenue since 1972. The Springfield closed for good in September 2019 in anticipation that the property would be sold then to a Pennsylvania-based investment group that had proposed building a three-story complex featuring an outdoor bar, restaurant, banquet facility and condominiums on top.

However, that deal fell through in 2020, allowing Holloway and GMH Restaurant Holdings to step in as the new buyers last October.

The Springfield Inn had been on the market for $6.7 million, although it has not yet been disclosed how much GMH is paying to buy the site. The Springfield’s coveted beachfront location made it a strong candidate for redevelopment. It was the only beachfront business in Sea Isle that had a liquor license – a license now owned by GMH following City Council’s approval of the transfer.

In other business during its meeting Tuesday, Council introduced Sea Isle’s proposed 2021 municipal budget. A public hearing and final Council vote on the spending plan are scheduled for March 23.

The $26.8 million budget includes an increase in the local tax rate of a quarter-penny. Council tweaked the budget to reduce the half-penny increase in the tax rate that was originally proposed.

For an average Sea Isle home assessed at $683,500, the quarter-penny increase will translate to an extra $17 in taxes per year, or less than a nickel a day, Mayor Leonard Desiderio said.

“I know that we don’t want increases, but this is responsible financial management,” Desiderio said during the Council meeting.

He added, “In addition, all of the other services and projects we have planned and come to expect will be properly funded. Finally, when you consider our budgets over a four-year period, the tax rate included in the budget for introduction today is still slightly less than it was four years ago due to a rate increase two years ago.”

Sea Isle is planning to have volunteer firefighters stay overnight at the department during the summer to help provide 24-hour protection to residents.

The budget includes funding to help Sea Isle’s volunteer fire department and the beach patrol improve public safety.

Sea Isle will have volunteer firefighters stationed overnight at the fire station during the peak summer tourism season, saving valuable time in responding to fires when the town is crowded with vacationers.

The city is creating a payment program for volunteer firefighters who are part of the overnight shift. Overall, the cost of the program will be capped at $30,000 per month, according to the ordinance that funds the overnight crew.

Desiderio said the plan includes having firefighters on duty during nights and weekends in the summer and “at other selected times.”

Plans for an overnight crew continue the department’s restructuring following four separate fires in 2017, 2018 and 2019 that destroyed a total of nine single-family homes or duplexes. One of the fires killed an elderly woman on 54th Street in November 2018.

Some residents have called for Sea Isle to consider switching to a paid fire department instead of relying on volunteers or to improve fire protection and response times in other ways. City officials have repeatedly praised the volunteer firefighters for their service and response times

In another public safety measure funded by the 2021 budget, Sea Isle has decided to add lifeguards to the beaches at Third, Sixth and Ninth streets in the north end of town to protect swimmers in an area that is growing in popularity.

At times, some of the north end beaches were packed last summer, underscoring the need for lifeguard protection, Police Chief Tom McQuillen explained.

“We saw a very noticeable uptick in usage in the north end beaches this past summer,” McQuillen said in an earlier interview. “There’s certainly more people in the north end beaches than ever before.”

Sea Isle’s nearly $1 million fishing pier and kayak launch facility will be enhanced with decorative lighting. (Photo courtesy of Sea Isle City)

In another piece of business, Council awarded a nearly $62,000 contract to Kane Communications LLC of Trenton for decorative lighting at Sea Isle’s new fishing pier and kayak launch facility.

Overlooking the back bays, the Boardwalk-style fishing pier and kayak launch facility will open this spring near 60th Street next to the Dealy Field athletic and recreation complex.

The cost of the project is nearly $1 million, with most of it being paid for by a grant from the Cape May County Open Space Board.