Ropewalk owner makes big Ocean City plans
The millions of visitors who stream over the Route 50 bridge into Ocean City every year may be greeted by a new sight in coming years: an eight-story hotel and waterfront restaurant.
The bayside development is slated for prime property between First Street and the bridge of Sinepuxent Bay — a fact not lost on its developers or town planners.
“It’s a very special site," said Blaine Smith, assistant director of planning and community development for the resort. “You’ve got the marina, Assateague Island, the bridge. That’s the introductory coming into Ocean City.”
Marc McFaul, the owner of a Baltimore-based bar and restaurant empire that includes the Ropewalk restaurants in Fenwick Island and Ocean City, is behind the venture. He didn't return messages seeking comment for this story.
His firm, Ropewalk Bel Air Properties LLC, is under contract to purchase the nearly four-acre property from Silver Spring-based Rojo Land LLC. That is a holding company for the Gudelsky family, who bought the property at auction for $4.1 million in 2011.
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Two years later, the family razed the concrete plant that had been there for decades. The George B. Cropper concrete facility was the last outpost for manufacturing of any kind in the resort, officials say.
Today, the now-vacant plot is occasionally used for parking. Of late, it has been used as a staging area for the construction of a nearby water tower.
Given their proposed, high-profile location, the hotel and restaurant are being designed with a "front-door concept," said Keith Fisher, the project's architect.
Its proximity to the Harry W. Kelley Memorial Bridge, however, could prove to be a headache for the development down the road. The State Highway Administration wants to replace the span, and the new road deck is expected to encroach into the south end of the property.
Although the bridge has been dubbed "functionally obsolete," state highway officials don't expect to undertake the $353 million project for at least 15 years.
McFaul and his team are "in their due diligence" with the property, Fisher said. A McFaul representative, Ocean City-based attorney Joe Moore, informally presented a case for rezoning the property away from manufacturing recently to the town's planning board.
“The only reason it was zoned manufacturing is because the concrete plant was there, and now that the concrete plant has been removed, we would like you to remove the zoning," Moore said.
In that regard, the planning commission's reception was warm.
“We certainly don’t think our town needs manufacturing on it for the long haul," Chairwoman Pamela Greer Buckley said. “I personally think it’s the right way to go for that piece of property.”
But several planners questioned Moore about how the bridge replacement would affect the property. The plan, he replied, is to place the hotel as far away from the road as possible and build vertically — that is, with more floors — instead of horizontally.
The proposal is expected to return to the board for its first formal zoning hearing on June 7. The final decision lies with the Town Council.
The property is the largest cleared portion remaining downtown, and redevelopment plans have been hovering over it for years. Centex Homes had planned for 54 bay townhouses and 40 condominium units. But that deal disintegrated under the Cropper family, and the bank later took over the property.
Contact reporter Jeremy Cox at 410-845-4630 or on Twitter @Jeremy_Cox.