Joey
Harrison's Surf Club in Ortley Beach, an eyesore leftover from Superstorm Sandy
nine years ago, is now almost gone.
The
former club sat vacant and empty since the storm, but in the last week, crews
began taking down the dilapidated building.
As
Ortley Beach rebuilt in the years since Sandy, the concrete slabs, old condos,
and the surf shack in its destroyed state remained in place.
Last December, Mayor Mo Hill told News
12 thanks to state funding from the blue acres program, and sales of other
land in the township to Ocean County, Toms River could finally move forward
erasing the memory from the past.
The
price tag for the property topped $7 million from the landowners. Plans call
for a public beach, and renovating the parking lot across the street from the club
using a surface of crushed clamshells, bringing much needed extra parking to
the beachfront.
The final transactions of the $7.3 million land sale are expected to be completed by the end of the month.