Group Wants Solarium for a Maritime Museum

CAPE MAY – A group of residents wants to move the Solarium to a property near the Nature Center and turn the building into a Cape May maritime museum and environmental education center.
While the group may have a good idea, they don’t have much time to carry out their plan. The City of Cape May would need to see a plan to move the Solarium by Sept. 15.
The building must be relocated by November 1 or it will be demolished along with Convention Hall this winter.
The group is also asking for a loan from the city from a $600,000 fund that was loaned and repaid by Congress Hall Hotel during its renovation in the early part of this decade. The funds were made available by the State of New Jersey for projects that create jobs.
The city also loaned $100,000 to the Beach Theatre Foundation but that loan has not been repaid.
Along with the loan, the group is also asking the city to sell them the Solarium for $1 and grant permission for the museum group to rent the Delaware Avenue property, which is owned by the city, for $1 per year.
The group’s founders are Harry Bellangy, Kevin Maloney, Charlotte Todd and Gretchen Whitman.
Maloney told the Herald the current Solarium is a very close replica of a building from 1912 destroyed by a March 1962 Nor’easter, therein lays its value. The current Solarium was built in 1993.
“This is really a long shot,” said Maloney. “There is a high probability that this in fact will not happen but at least we can say we tried.”
He said the plan calls for the maritime museum to work closely with the Nature Center of Cape May and the neighboring U.S. Coast Guard Training Center.
Maloney said the group was looking at the possibility of putting the Solarium 300 feet to the ocean, placing it on a 140-foot barge and move it by water rather than taking it through the city. A land route has also been mapped out which requires a minimal amount of temporarily removing power lines.
The Solarium has 3,000 square feet of interior space. Maloney said the Solarium was built to stand the harsh beach environment with oversize pilings.
One item that could slow down the process is receiving a CAFRA permit from the state Department of Environmental Protection, he said. An option would be to store the Solarium on the lot until the permit is received and then pour a foundation.
Maloney said he hoped DEP would be an ally for the project. He said he was working on a cost figure for the entire project and was consulting with an architect. Plans include a meeting space for lectures, a link to the Fisherman’s Memorial and museum store to provide revenue.
The group will make a presentation to City Council Tue., Sept 7 at 1 p.m.