A look at the new Oregon Inlet Fishing Center building
Members of the National Park Service, Oregon Inlet Fishing Center LLC, the United States Coast Guard, and Marine Patrol met at the new Oregon Inlet Fishing Center building in Nags Head for a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Monday morning, April 22.
On the first floor, the nearly 10,000-square-foot building has retail space for fishing and boat supplies, the Sea Chef Dockside Kitchen, a charter boat reservation desk, and a small museum area for the history of Oregon Inlet. The second floor has an event room and administrative offices.
The building will replace the single-story 6,000-square-foot building, which was built in 1965 after the Ash Wednesday Storm severely damaged the original marina building, and which will be demolished later this year.
“The goal was to build a better set of buildings more resilient to coastal environments,” said Dave Hallac, the superintendent of eastern North Carolina’s national parks.
The new building is 11 feet above sea level with a metal roof rated for 150-mile-per-hour winds and impact-resistant windows, Hallac said.
Construction of the replacement building began in June 2022. The restaurant will open on April 24, and the retail space will open no later than May 1, said Russ King, the managing operator of Oregon Inlet Fishing Center LLC.
The new building was necessary to service the 60 boat slips in the marina and turn Oregon Inlet into a destination for families and visitors again, King said.
“We have the best fishing fleet on the East Coast, if not in the country,” King said.
Steve Daniels, the owner of Renaissance Construction which oversaw construction, is a former charter boat captain who ran his boat out of the Oregon Inlet marina.
“[It’s] one of the prettiest buildings on the Outer Banks,” Daniels said.
Oregon Inlet Fishing Center LLC installed non-ethanol and diesel in-slip fuel pumps so charter captains don’t have to maneuver around the marina to fill up, added non-ethanol and regular gas pumps in the parking lot, and repaired the marina’s 1,700 feet of bulkhead and boardwalk beginning in 2019, King said.
This year, the marina is experimenting with Titan decking, a composite material that will widen the boardwalk and doesn’t need as much maintenance as wood deck boards, King said.
“It’s going to last even with wear and tear for 30 years,” King said.
In the fall, the National Park Service will regrade, replace the asphalt, and add drainage to the parking lot in front of the old retail building, Hallac said.
An independent panel awarded a 20-year lease to the Oregon Inlet Fishing Center LLC in December 2018, the Island Free Press reported.
The National Park Service still maintains the boat ramp and kayak launch, while Oregon Inlet Fishing Center LLC maintains the buildings, boat slips, bulkhead, fuel pumps, and boardwalk.
Some improvements, like those to the boardwalk and bulkhead, were mandatory under the terms of the lease. However, the new building and in-slip fuel pumps were optional upgrades, Hallac said.
Oregon Inlet Fishing Center pays the National Park Service $40,000 a year and five percent of its gross receipts to operate the marina and receives rent offsets from the National Park Service for improvements, King said.
