A popular seasonal nightclub at Marina Bay has been proposed as the site for 352 new luxury homes — a development that would spell the end of the venue’s decades-long run of summer nightlife in Quincy’s most coveted waterfront community.
The Ocean Club at Marina Bay typically reopens for the season around Memorial Day. But so far there has been no word of whether the open-air club will operate this year, or whether any events will be held there at all.
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Billed as the “Boston area’s premier summertime nightclub,” the 62,000-square-foot venue is known for its imported beach sand, decorative palm trees, cabanas, beach volleyball courts, big-name DJs, and fist-pumping crowds.
But it faces an uncertain future.
The Quincy Planning Board has approved the housing development plan for the “Boardwalk Residences at Marina Bay,” which would feature two apartment buildings containing 352 units and 18,500 square feet of commercial space. According to the plan, the boardwalk would wrap around the perimeter of the complex and include art displays, dynamic lighting, and public seating where visitors can enjoy scenic views of downtown Boston’s skyline across the bay.
Edward Thomas, president of the Marina Bay Civic Association, said losing the Ocean Club would mark the end of an era. “This is going to be a huge change for Marina Bay, no question about it,” said Thomas. “All of us hope it will be a positive change.”
Not everyone likes the plan. Thomas said he recently ran into a young couple walking along the waterfront who were “distraught” about the thought of the Ocean Club closing, he said.
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But most of the 2,000 residents who live at Marina Bay would like to see the club close for good, said Maureen Glynn, one of the directors of the Marina Bay Civic Association.
“With the nightclub leaving, I think it’s going to make everyone happy here,” said Glynn. “It’s been a thorn in our side. If it means we have to have apartments, so be it.”
Nightlife seems to have always had a place at Marina Bay, ever since the first condominiums were built there in the 1980s. Glynn recalls when an outdoor club known as The Tent was located at the other end of Marina Bay. She met her future husband at The Tent in 1984, and they got married there in 1986. A few years later, The Tent moved to the site of the Ocean Club.
As The Tent grew in popularity in the 1990s, it drew thousands of young people to Marina Bay on summer nights. In 1995, it changed hands and reopened as WaterWorks. A few years later, it was rechristened the Marina Bay Beach Club. Since 2010, it has been the Ocean Club at Marina Bay.
Now the site is owned by Flagship Marina Bay LLC and the Ocean Club is operated by restaurateur Frank DePasquale.
Over the years, he has built a mini-empire of establishments in the Boston area that includes Trattoria Il Panino, Bricco, Umbria Prime, Quattro, and Mare. He is chairman of the North End Chamber of Commerce.
DePasquale could not be reached for comment.
Brian F. McNamee, the Quincy city councilor who represents Ward 6, which includes Marina Bay, said DePasquale’s lease has not been renewed, and Flagship Marina Bay LLC still holds the liquor license and cabaret license used by the nightclub.
“They’re retaining [the license] because they hope to have a restaurant in the new development,” said McNamee. “Until they break ground, they’re reserving the right to maybe use the license to do something this summer.”
A groundbreaking for the new development had initially been planned for as early as July, but could be delayed.
“We might not see groundbreaking or pre-construction work until the fall,” he said. “That’s basically what’s been communicated to me. But [the project] is moving forward.”
McNamee says the plan to replace the nightclub with homes is a good one.
“The nightclub was one of the largest open-air nightclubs on the East Coast,” said McNamee. “It consumed a lot of city services — police calls, traffic monitoring — and because it was an unimproved piece of real estate, it never paid a lot of real estate taxes.”
“From a municipal standpoint, as far as the city was concerned, it was a tax to city services,” McNamee added. “That was always a problem.”
The crowds of rowdy young people shuttling into Marina Bay to party were simply “not compatible, given the high-end uses of the marina,” he said.
“Some of the most expensive real estate in the city is in Marina Bay,” said McNamee. “There was always that dichotomy. The competing interests were always clashing. To see this use coming to the end of its life cycle, I think, is very desirable for the marina.”
But when exactly that would happen remains to be seen.
The Ocean Club has operated May through September, hosting internationally known DJs like Avicii and Cedric Gervais. As of this week, its website has not listed events for 2014.
Dennis E. Harrington, director of planning and urban redevelopment for Quincy, estimates construction could begin in the late summer or early fall.
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