Former Bank Building Will Not Become New Police HQ, Ocean City Mayor Says

OCEAN CITY, NJ — After a "due diligence" review, Ocean City will no longer pursue the purchase of the former Crown Bank building to use as a new police headquarters, officials said Tuesday night.

The former Crown Bank building, located at 801 Asbury Ave., has served as the Shoppes at Asbury for the past few years. It's also served as a temporary police building for several months. Since it worked well temporarily, Mayor Jay Gillian and City Council wanted to explore its usage for a permanent headquarters.

At a recent City Council meeting, a bond ordinance was introduced to purchase the building and neighboring parking lot for $12.6 million. But vendors at the Shoppes at Asbury were afraid this would endanger their businesses. Read more: Business Owners Fear New Police HQ In Historic Ocean City Building

Jim McCallion, who owned the building from 2019 to 2023, also expressed concerns about the city's purchase.

"In my haste to purchase what I thought was a beautiful historic building, I neglected to do my full due diligence and overlooked normal protocols to determine the health and safety of the building," McCallion said in a statement.

He urged the city to to explore other options due to the building's age, structural concerns, health concerns and more.

"I can say with full conviction 801 Asbury had been my albatross, my Moby dick, I had loved it since I was a teen and as a result bought it in haste," McCallion said. "It was a money pit. I am grateful I was finally unburdened of it in 2023."

Now, the city says they will not buy the building.

"The administration has performed the appropriate due diligence to consider such acquisition, and has reviewed this with City Council," city officials said. "Based on all available information, the mayor and council have determined it is not in the best interests of the city to move forward with the purchase of 801 Asbury."

It worked well as a temporary home, but the scope and cost of renovations for the long-term were cost prohibitive, officials said. Also, "there remain further unknown concerns relative to the facility that make the acquisition impracticable," officials said.

"We'll always consider any opportunity to save taxpayers money, and we'll always do our fact-finding before making any decision. In this case, the estimated costs to properly renovate the building make the purchase inadvisable," Gillian and City Council President Terry Crowley Jr. said in a joint statement.