Convention Hall to Open in 2011

CAPE MAY — The opening date for the city’s new Convention Hall will likely be in early 2011, not in the fall of 2010 as predicted earlier.
Mayor Edward J. Mahaney Jr. met with the city’s Tourism Commission Aug. 26 to discuss an agreement with Temple University School of Tourism and Hospitality to manage Cape May’s future Convention Hall and coordinate tourism promotion for the seaside town.
He told the Herald the city hoped to receive a Coastal Areas Facilities Review Act (CAFRA) permit from the state Department of Environment Protection (DEP) within 30 days. No demolition or construction will begin until all permits are received.
He said CAFRA permits generally take six to 12 months to receive from the time of application. The city submitted its application April 8 and has been working diligently with DEP, said Mahaney
He said the size of the facility’s catering kitchen has been doubled and the restaurant within the hall has been expanded to make it more attractive to potential operators. The increased catering kitchen and restaurant space was found by relocating storage space.
Mahaney said the main hall would accommodate 1,151 seats with a soundproof partition to divide the room in half to allow two simultaneous events. Three community rooms will be located on the second floor, one room with a capacity for 75 persons and two others with a capacity of sixty persons.
Three retail stores will occupy the front of the hall. Mahaney said the city would seek a type of retail not already in operation in that area.
Additional restrooms have been added to the hall design, he said.
The building will be heated and cooled by a geothermal system which should pay for itself within seven years through energy savings, said Mahaney. Otherwise, the building remains as voters approved it, he said.
Mahaney said the opening of the hall should expand Cape May’s tourist niche.
New opportunities for the hall would include one to three day conventions, mainly educational, training sessions and small group planning sessions, which the city could not accommodate in the past, trade and exhibition shows, and the performing arts, he said.
Mahaney said he wanted convention hall to be as self-sustaining financially as possible. He said he did not want taxpayers to bear the full burden of operation of the hall.
“We felt we needed to set up a model for operation of the hall from a business and management standpoint,” said the mayor. “The key to this effort will be to integrate and intertwine the traditional, longstanding uses of this building with the new opportunities that we’ll have.”
He said a tremendous amount of work has been undertaken for convention hall since voters approved a $10.5 million bond in November 2008. It had to be determined if it was economically feasible to construct the hall from the conceptual plans.
“We are hopeful we will be able to go to bid in the fall and actually start the process of demolition and construction before the end of year,” said Mahaney.
He said the entire convention hall cost could be paid off in 11 years.