Watermark shoots to reopen next week
With minimal damage, owner Russell Lewis feels 'blessed and humbled'
Hurricane Sandy roared through the region almost three weeks ago, demolishing boardwalks from Coney Island to Atlantic City. Despite destruction north and south of Asbury Park, the city suffered minimal damage compared to most waterfront towns.
And although the boardwalk saw some missing planks and most businesses received one to three feet of water inside their first floors, one boardwalk boîte may be ready to re-open next Wednesday.
Four-year-old cocktail and tapas bar Watermark got through the storm with minimal damage, owner Russell Lewis said today, largely because it’s the only boardwalk business that occupies exclusively an upper floor. The bar is on track to be the first business to reopen on the Asbury Park boardwalk.
“I was largely passed over,” Lewis said. “I remain unbelievably blessed and humbled — and unbelievably impressed at the effort to rebuild from my landlords and the city.”
Lewis spoke with his landlord, boardwalk redeveloper Madison Marquette, yesterday, and said it’s conceivable he will have his business’s power restored and all the requisite inspections complete by next Wednesday, although that date isn’t definite.
This time of year, Watermark is open to the public on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, keeping things “at a low boil” compared to the simmering summer months, Lewis said. And in light of Hurricane Sandy, Thursday Happy Hour will now be dedicated to storm relief until further notice.
Lewis hopes to partner with different organizations and individuals to help rebuild the Shore. At the first Thursday event, Watermark will collect donations for a former bartender who lost his home in Union Beach.
The boardwalk has been sectioned off from the public since the week of the storm, but Watermark will likely be accessible through a fenced-off path to its Ocean Avenue door.
Lewis prepared for the storm by securing outdoor furniture and sealing doors to the outside with old yoga mats, he said. He also turned all the electrical circuits off inside and made sure there were no currents running through the circuits. He didn’t order a lot of food the week before, and gave what he had left to his employees before the storm to avoid spoilage.
Watermark was closed for one week last year due to Hurricane Irene. Due to forecasts saying Hurricane Sandy would be three times as strong as Irene was, Lewis estimated he’d be out of business for three weeks this time around. And if he opens next week, that estimate will have proven to be true.
Despite the longer closure time post-Sandy, though, he said he probably took a bigger hit in terms of sales after Irene because that storm struck at the end of August, a busy time for boardwalk bars.
Lewis compared the post-storm mood along the Shore to post-9/11 Manhattan. Lewis worked as a Broadway producer in New York City for about 10 years, and was in that field on Sept. 11, 2001.
“There was a very slow movement for people to return not only to their normal lives, but people wanting to be joyous and spend money on an activity that was pure joy,” Lewis said. “With Watermark being a party place and a celebration place, I think by next summer the mourning period will have passed and people will be ready to celebrate or enjoy themselves on that level again.”
Watermark’s wedding business has boomed in recent years, with everything from cocktail parties to full wedding ceremonies taking place at the bar. Lewis handles about 50 weddings a year — three of which have been cancelled due to the hurricane, but will be rescheduled.
Lewis is looking forward to see the Asbury boardwalk get back on its feet.
“I think we’re going to have to hold on pretty tight through this winter, but if we’re able to stay online and bring it back in an even bigger and better way, we’re going to see the fruits of that next summer,” he said.
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[Watermark pictured above, at the far right of the pavilion, a few days after the storm. For a full album of photos of the storm damage on the boardwalk, click here.]