Seaside Heights Readying Final Plans for Boardwalk Bathhouse Facility

The future site of a bathhouse at 1521 Ocean Terrace, Seaside Heights, N.J., Aug. 2025. (Photo: Shorebeat)

Seaside Heights officials are in the final planning stages before placing out to bid a project that will see the reconstruction of a bath house on the boardwalk that was destroyed in Superstorm Sandy more than a decade ago.

The borough received $1.6 million in federal funds to reconstruct a bath house at Hiering Avenue, where one had historically existed, but had faced opposition from several owners of condominiums at 1515 Ocean Terrace. The bath house’s location before the storm was located at 1521 Ocean Terrace – the lot to the north – and it will be rebuilt in the borough-owned lot there, which has sat vacant ever since.

Despite intentions to rebuild the bath house, which will contain restrooms and hot showers intended to be used by visitors who wish to shower after spending a day at the beach, the condominium owners opposed the reconstruction outright. They first objected to a second floor which would have contained a handicap-accessible viewing platform that would have enabled guests to see the ocean, and later told borough officials they felt the entire facility would bring too many visitors to what they viewed as “their” beach. Further, several residents even requested the borough decline to sell beach badges at the bathhouse since they did not want to walk around a queue of visitors in line to purchase them.

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Borough Administrator Christopher Vaz this week said, short of canceling the project altogether, officials made numerous concessions to the condominium owners in order to make the facility more palatable. The condominium’s association had hired an attorney to advocate against the reconstruction. That effort failed, however Vaz said the second floor of the building was removed from plans and other changes were made in response to the complaints.

“We got rid of the second floor, and we moved the physical building as far west toward Ocean Terrace as we possibly could,” he said. “We had to re-think the pedestrian ramp that usually comes off the boardwalk and goes straight down. This will come out flat to a point, and then you walk in the building, and then go down. We were in constant dialogue with 1515 Ocean Terrace.”

The future site of a bathhouse at 1521 Ocean Terrace, Seaside Heights, N.J., Aug. 2025. (Photo: Shorebeat)

The repositioning will allow a small deck area to be constructed so those waiting in line would not have to queue on the boardwalk along with their belongings.

Renderings of the facility were not immediately available since they arrived literally minutes before a borough council meeting began last week. At the meeting, the borough council appropriated $300,000 toward the cost of the construction of the bath house, though the full cost will ultimately be funded by the federal grant. The money appropriated by the council would bridge any potential gaps between the time construction begins and when the funding is in-hand.

Hiering Avenue, Seaside Heights, N.J. (Photo: Shorebeat)

“The money that is being appropriated is simply to give us a little wiggle room, because we know what the grant is – $1.6 million – and we don’t want to have to delay moving forward,” said Vaz.

Vaz said the borough council is expected to solicit bids for the construction of the bathhouse and ramp in the near future. Construction will begin after a low bid is accepted and a contract is awarded by the council, and pre-construction meetings are held to set forth deadlines and other directives for the project. The bathhouse should be operational for the 2026 summer season.