The Sandcastle breaks ‘sand’

By Jack Kintner

Goldmark’s latest project in Birch Bay is the Sandcastle, a six-story mixed use 85,000 square foot building containing 62 timeshare condos, residential townhouses and commercial space. Ground was broken earlier this month, according to Goldmark president Bill Grant. “We drilled all over the property for a week or so to get the geotechnical information we need to build the foundation,” he said, “and we’ll begin site servicing in about six weeks, sometime in July.” Full scale construction is slated to begin after Labor Day.

The building will be just north of the present Ocean Breezes buildings that presently house a Worldmark resort and commercial space. The parking lot between the north side of the Worldmark properties and the Dry Dock Restaurant will be retained, but not the Dry Dock itself. The building is an old house that Goldstar remodeled into a restaurant for the Dry Dock when their original building across the street was sold five years ago, and it will be demolished after Labor Day to make room for the new structure. Dry Dock owners Bob Christoffer and Don and Mary Lynn have been offered space in the new Sandcastle building, but what happens to the restaurant business in the interim is still being decided.
For more information, readers may log on to www.goldstarresorts.com/projects/the_sandcastle