Another historic building for lease at Sandy Hook

The addition of the former Officers Club to the roster of buildings for lease at historic Fort Hancock for private ventures came from interest generated about that site as park officials try to find new uses for century-old decaying buildings.

SANDY HOOK --The National Park Service has added another building to the list of historic structures available to the public at Sandy Hook as the federal agency reworks the way it's courting potential developers.

The addition of the former Officers Club to the roster of buildings for lease at historic Fort Hancock for private ventures came from interest generated about that site as park officials try to find new uses for century-old decaying buildings.

Pam McLay, chief of business services and partnerships for Gateway National Recreation Area, said the former Officers Club was added to the list of buildings offered for lease after a number of people had expressed interest in it while touring Fort Hancock's other buildings.

Plans for the buildings were discussed Friday at the meeting of the Fort Hancock 21^st Century Advisory Committee, which has been working for more than two years to try to save the historic buildings by trying to find private and non-profit organizations to rehabilitate them in long-term lease arrangements.

The former Officers Club at Fort Hancock on Sandy Hook is now being offered for lease. (National Park Service) 

Built in 1879, the 23,616-square-foot brick Officers Club now sits in disrepair like the 35 others at Fort Hancock that were first offered for lease as part of a pilot project.

McLay and Jennifer Nersesian, Sandy Hook's superintendent, said that the first round of requests for proposals generated two potential lease holders with whom the National Park Service is in discussions regarding some of the buildings along Officers Row, a line of stately but decaying brick buildings overlooking Sandy Hook Bay.

The buildings were originally offered for three types of uses: residential, educational/non-profit and commercial.

Committee members had hoped that at least one of the proposed ventures would include a bed & breakfast operation, but Jerry Glaser, committee co-chairman, said he was surprised that none of the proposals was for that type of operation. He said that may have to do with the amount of funding it would take to renovate the large buildings.

Still, he said, he was pleased to see some movement.

"While the progress has been slow, it is progress," Glaser said.

Hoping to generate more interest in the buildings, the committee slightly modified the residential zone to uses compatible with residences, such as a restaurant.  McLay said the committee will now accept proposals for those residential and compatible-use leases on an ongoing basis so that developers won't have to wait long for their offers to be evaluated. The first deadline for submission is Sept. 30, followed by monthly deadlines of Oct. 30, Nov. 27 and Dec. 28.

A new round of requests for proposals is expected to go out for the commercial and education zones, McLay said.