What's next for Joey Harrison's Surf Club property?

May 29--TOMS RIVER -- With final demolition underway at Joey Harrison's Surf Club, the president of an Ortley Beach taxpayers' group said he hopes the land can be purchased and used as a public beach.

"More than anything else, we'd like to see some state, county and municipal money coming in to buy it and make it a public beach," said Paul Jeffrey, president of the Ortley Beach Voters and Taxpayers Association. "It's a unique opportunity to create more beach access and to add more public beach."

Surf Club owner Joseph Barcellona Sr. could not be reached for comment Thursday about his plans for the iconic nightclub at 1900 Ocean Terrace, which also had its own private beach.

In the months after Sandy destroyed the club, Barcellona insisted the nightclub would be rebuilt.

In June 2013, about 200 people rallied on Ocean Terrace to "Save the Surf Club," after Barcellona and his wife, Dolores, said an ongoing fight with insurance companies was threatening rebuilding plans.

Township Administrator Paul J. Shives said that the Barcellonas have been discussing rebuilding options with the state Department of Environmental Protection.

"Based on what I know from those discussions, it is my opinion that I don't believe they plan on rebuilding the Surf Club at this point and are headed in another direction from all indications," Shives said.

That could mean selling the land for condominium or townhouse development.

In 2005, Barcellona planned to sell the property to a developer, and the Toms River Planning Board approved an application by Centex Homes to build The Sands at Ortley Beach, a 28-unit townhouse development on the Surf Club property and a parking lot owned by Barcellona at Route 35 North and Seventh Avenue.

But the sale fell through the Surf Club continued to offer live music through the summer of 2012.

A surf club has existed on the beachfront in Ortley for at least 70 years.

The property had already been called the "Surf Club" for years before current owner Joseph Barcellona Sr. purchased the property in 1973.

Flooded but repaired during the December 1992 nor'easter, the club had survived dozens of storms until superstorm Sandy destroyed it in October 2012.

He named it after a pseudonym his father adopted to further a boxing career in the mid-20th century, according to a 1989 interview Barcellona Sr. gave to the Asbury Park Press.

"Italians couldn't get fights so he took an Irish name," Barcellona said then.

He tried prizefighting himself before buying the club.

In spring 2004, Barcellona Sr.'s representatives approached Toms River municipal officials with an offer to sell the surf club property.

They quoted the club's overall value, including its liquor license, at $10 million.

Then-Mayor Paul C. Brush has said the purchase price offered to the township was less than that figure.

Brush lobbied the Township Council to pursue the club's purchase, saying he believed the property would serve as a "little Island Beach" for Toms River residents.

But council members never pursued the acquisition of the club, with then-Council President Gregory P. McGuckin saying the council had decided not to hold discussions after learning there was already a contract purchaser for the property.

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