By Morgan Pilz, Staff Writer

Photo by Josh Davis
After tearing down an old gym building for the Town of Ocean City a week prior, Absolute Demolition crews moved to Ocean Pines late last week to begin demolition of the former golf and country club building.

(May 23, 2019) The Ocean Pines country club building is no more as of Monday, having been demolished earlier than anticipated, though residents can still play on the greens itself.

Demolition began last Friday, when an Ocean City contractor, Absolute Demolition, which had bid on the project, was in the area and offered to perform the work.

The company had just completed a taking down a large steel building adjacent to the World Gym building on 67th Street in Ocean City to make way for a parking lot. The company had nine calendar days to complete the project, which began on Wednesday, May 8, and finished last Thursday.

“They gave us a very good price for doing the demolition,” Vice President Steve Tuttle said. “Every place you can save money is a good thing.”

The unexpected demolition ended up saving money for the association, which had budgeted $3,000 more than the job cost.  It also allowed the association to get a better understanding of what work will be needed in the future.

“We decided to go ahead and let them do that work since [Whayland Company], who were bidding it, their time schedule was set to take place in the fall,” Tuttle said. “When you get into the fall, you start getting into more difficult weather conditions.

“This provides an opportunity to take a look at the existing foundation and to verify where some of the utilities are that service the building,” he continued. “This will provide some additional design information that’s needed to continue with the project.”

Golf operations have been moved to a trailer and will remain there until the new clubhouse is completed. Food and beverage service and restroom facilities will be available in the interim.

A construction date for the new clubhouse has not been set, though everything is on track “as far as architectural design and engineering goes,” Tuttle said.

A motion to award a guaranteed maximum price contract of $1.6 million to Whayland Company for the design and construction of the new clubhouse was made and approved by the Ocean Pines Board of Directors at its April 6 meeting.

Plans for the new building have already been reviewed, Tuttle said.

“The first draft of the new clubhouse floor plan and elevation views were received yesterday by the construction working group on Friday,” Tuttle said. “Recommendations to the architect and contractor Whayland Company will be made early next week after gathering some additional information.”

Ocean Pines Golf Club opened in 1972, making it one of the community’s oldest buildings and one of the earliest courses in the Ocean City area. Open to the public year-round, it is the only Robert Trent Jones Sr.-designed course on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

In addition to offering memberships for families, individuals and juniors, Ocean Pines Golf Club features 18 holes of championship golf, practice facilities, instructional clinics, summer junior golf camp, private lessons and club sales, fittings and repair services.