A rendering shows what a new mixed use retail and employee housing building planned for the former Hatland store on 81st Street will look like. Planning commissioners approved a site plan for the project on Sept. 20.
The former Hatland store on 81st Street is taking on a much sweeter use following the approval of new project plans last week.
On Sept. 20, the Ocean City Planning Comission approved a site plan for a two-story, mixed use building, complete with a Sugar Kingdom candy shop and employee housing, at 8103 Coastal Highway.
In November, Avraham Sibony, the owner and operator of numerous properties across the resort, bought the now-shuttered Hatland store with the intention of turning it into a new retail spot. Sibony’s other real estate holdings include several Sunsations stores, the Taphouse restaurants and 45th Street Village properties, and the Francis Scott Key Resort.
The new site plan calls for a 3,765 square-foot store Sugar Kingdom store on the first floor of the building, and nearly 3,000 square feet of dormitory-style employee housing on the second. The residential portion will include seven bedrooms, several bathrooms, and kitchen and living areas.
Keith Iott, the architect working on the project, said during last week’s meeting that Sibony told him the space could house not only Sugar Kingdom employees, but also Taphouse and Sunsations workers.
“It’s very likely what will happen is these will remain partially occupied throughout the year with the employees at … Sibony organizations,” Iott said.
During discussions, planning commissioners worked out parking details, and determined that they want the project to include enough bike racks to provide one per residential occupant and an 8-foot sidewalk along Coastal Highway. They also included a requirement that lighting for the building face away from neighboring properties.
The building was constructed in 1985 as a bank savings and loan. In 1993, it became a retail clothing store, and the owner at the time asked for a waiver of 11 parking spaces, which was a little more than one-third of the requirement. In 1996, a special parking exception was requested and granted to expand the retail use to more than just clothing.
Hatland moved into the space in 2015 and remained until shuttering recently. Before that, the building was a T-shirt Factory.
This story appears in the Sept. 30, 2022 print edition of the OC Today.
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Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
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