OCEAN CITY – The City Council is keeping its options open on a site for police headquarters and is now considering purchasing the Crown Bank building on Asbury Avenue for that purpose.
The council at its Sept. 25 meeting introduced an ordinance that amends a June 2024 bond ordinance to allow the city the option of purchasing the bank building. The previous plan, and the one the 2024 bond ordinance supported, was to significantly renovate the current public safety building.
Mayor Jay Gillian said that “the city is still in the process of doing its due diligence on the condition of the building.” City Attorney Dottie McCrosson said time is of the essence, since any purchase of the building should occur before the Nov. 15 deadline for the start of the newly enacted supplementary realty transfer fee, familiarly known as the “mansion tax” on real estate transactions above $2 million. The new fee was part of the state’s 2026 budget.
To delay beyond Nov. 15 could increase the cost of the transaction by $400,000, McCrosson said.
Gillian said that the purchase of the bank building “could potentially save taxpayers millions of dollars.” The ordinance as introduced lists the price of the building and the nearby parking lot at $12.6 million. The estimated cost for expansion and renovation of the current public safety building, according to the original bond ordinance, was more than $30 million.
The current public safety building houses the Police Department and Municipal Court.
Conversion of the bank building to municipal use worries retail tenants on the structure’s ground floor. They fear losing their place of business in a market where finding an affordable alternative storefront location would be difficult.
Gillian does not promise a long-term commitment to maintaining retail space, but he says in his newsletter message to the public that “if the city were to purchase the building, we would honor the current leases and continue to work with the tenants.”
At the council meeting Council member Keith Hartzell went further, saying, “I think it is very important that the front level be retail.”
The ordinance introduced on Sept. 25 does not add funds to the 2024 bond ordinance. It revises language to allow funding in the bond ordinance to also be available for the option of purchasing the bank building and parking lot: It allows but does not compel the city to purchase the bank building.
The city would still be able to move ahead with the renovation and expansion of the existing building if the results of due diligence suggest that path would be the best option.
The new ordinance is scheduled for a second reading, public hearing and potential vote to adopt at the council’s meeting at 6 p.m. Oct. 9 at City Hall.
Contact the reporter, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.
