Donations for boating museum fall

The souring economy has slowed plans for the New Jersey Museum of Boating's move to Traders Cove.

"We were going to be completely financed by private contributions," said O'Brien, who serves as the executive director of the nonprofit organization.

"We've done very, very poorly because of the financial meltdown," he said. "One of my donors has lost a billion dollars. One was with Bernie Madoff. He lost everything. These guys are all saying to me, 'Look, I love the project, but I'm 40 percent poorer than I used to be and I don't have the money.' "

Fortunately, the museum is still doing well in its current location at Johnson Boat Works on Avenue in Point Pleasant.

"It's OK," O'Brien said. "We are in no rush. We have a museum open and running."

O'Brien and other museum officials plan to go the Trenton later this week to meet with representatives of Gov. Corzine's office to discuss the possibility of receiving some funds from the federal stimulus package for the $7 million project.

And he has no doubt that the boating museum will eventually be built at Traders Cove.

"We are still interested, we are still planning to go there," O'Brien said. "But because of the financial meltdown, things are a little pushed back on the calendar. Now we are saying it's a 2010 or 2011 event."

Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis said the township will wait as long as it has to for the museum.

"We are going to continue to move forward with the boat museum being an active partner," he said. "Even if that will take a little while to come to fruition."

The township will put some picnic tables, barbecue grills and possibly a gazebo in the northern portion of the Traders Cove site, where the museum will eventually be located, Acropolis said.

"We are not closing the door or saying goodbye," he said. "I still really believe it's a perfect match for that site. We'll be there as long as the boat museum will be there."

The 9-year-old museum has outgrown its 2,000 square feet. Museum officials announced an ambitious plan to move the museum to Traders Cove several years ago.

The plans call for two buildings, both exterior replicas of U.S. Life Saving Service stations. The first is a model of Life Saving Station No. 10, a Victorian-type station that was built on East Avenue in nearby Bay Head in 1884. It will serve as an educational pavilion, with a boat-building classroom, space for exhibits, museum offices and restrooms.

The second building will be a replica of the 1876 Centennial Life Saving Station. The two-level building will feature a ground-floor base with a lobby, a 120-seat auditorium, an exhibitions gallery, a boatbuilding classroom, a snack bar and public restrooms.

"Two million dollars is enough to get me started," O'Brien said. "I can build the first building with that. The second building can come along later, when the money is available."

The original $7 million project will now have to be done in phases, instead of all at once, he said.

"We can scale back," he said. "It will probably be a phased-in project right now. It will all happen as the money becomes available, whether it's federal or state funds or a little bit of both. The whole thing has to do with the funding. It's a shovel-ready project."

Township officials expected the museum project would take longer because of the economy, Acropolis said.

"We are willing to wait as long as it takes," he said. "The property will be utilized in a really nice way until that final decision is made."

Museum officials are still looking for donations to help offset the project's cost. Checks can be made payable to NJMB and mailed to 2007 New Jersey Museum of Boating Building Fund, P.O. Box 155, Bay Head, NJ 08742. For more information about donations, call 732-295-2072.