Council Shows Final Convention Hall Design Before Voter Referendum

CAPE MAY — City Council and Architect Martin Kimmel presented the final version of preliminary designs to build a new $10.5 million Convention Hall here at a fifth and final, sparsely attended town meeting Oct. 9.
Mayor Edward J. Mahaney Jr. said the preliminary design would be the basis which voters would decide to either approve or reject a binding referendum question in the Nov. 4 general election. He said council made it clear from the start construction documents would not be available nor down to the penny operating costs and income expectations.
Mahaney said the design called for the use of every type of conceivable energy to be used in the building “so we can get the most efficient, effective and most importantly cost effective energy for this building to heat and cool it.”
The options selected for a new Convention Hall were based on input received by City Manager Bruce MacLeod from the individual member of council and forwarded to the architect.
Kimmel presented computed generated illustrations of how the interior of the building will look including configurations of the main hall for a musical performance, trade show/craft fair and banquet/reception set up.
He said the main hall would seat about 1,258 persons. Kimmel said seating in the front of the hall would be chairs set up on the flat floor with seating in the second portion of the hall on telescoping risers, which could be moved around the room. The cost of stackable chairs would be $150,000 with the risers priced at $135,000.
An additional option of risers with foldaway seats would cost $400,000, said Kimmel.
A divider wall is included in the design at a cost of $100,000 which would allow two simultaneous events to be held in the main hall.
Restrooms with 10 fixtures each for the men’s and women’s rooms would be located at entrance to the hall. A municipal information booth would be located in the prefunction area.
The new hall would have a catering kitchen where food could be refrigerated and reheated but not cooked from scratch. Kimmel said it would not be a “cooking kitchen.”
The new hall would contain 4,100 square feet of retail space, which could be divided into as many as four stores. Tenants would be responsible for finishing the space, said Kimmel.
Restaurant space would occupy the rear corner of the building on two floors offering an ocean view. It would have a full kitchen, which would be equipped by the tenant.
The second floor of the new Convention Hall would contain additional restrooms and three community rooms which could be subdivided into as many as five spaces.
Administration and beach tag offices would be located on the second floor.
Kimmel presented costs for the project. Demolition of the old hall is estimated at $150,000 with the cost of constructing a new convention hall at $9.2 million. Removing $414,00 for leaving the retail space unfinished and adding a 6 percent cost contingency leaves a total of $984,000 to fit out the building.
Demolition costs do not include moving the Solarium to a new location.
Kimmel said the new hall would be built to the “silver” standard of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for energy conservation.
Kimmel said he had two designs to place solar panels on the roof, one producing 31.5 kilowatts which would provide about 7 percent of the buildings total power usage and another system that would provide 57 kilowatts which would approach 20 percent of power usage. He said he budgeted for the higher system which costs $500,000.
In order to afford the system, he said the city would seek to enter into a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) where an outside company funds the purchase and installation of the solar panels. The PPA contractor could take advantage of tax credits not available to a city, said Kimmel.
The city would purchase power from the contractor at substantially below market rates. After about 20 years, the city would own the solar system, he said. The actual cost to the city for the solar panels would be $100,000 after a $400,000 PPA.
Kimmel said five vertical wind turbines would be installed at a cost of $60,000, which would each produce about 10,000 watts or about 2 percent of the building’s power needs.
He said current thought is to heat and cool the building with geothermal energy. Kimmel said it is unknown if the waterfront location is feasible for a geothermal installation.
Plans for the new Convention Hall show a substantial amount of deck area and beach access on all four sides. It was assumed the material would be wood.
Council budgeted $200,000 for a hard surface which would last longer and offer emergency vehicle access to the beach.
Theatrical lighting is budgeted at $55,000, which would feature 2 fixed trusses to hold lights.
A sound system is budgeted at $55,000. He said a number of acts would bring their own system to the hall.
The proposed sound system for the hall is primarily designed for voice rather than music performance, said Kimmel. In addition $20,000 was budgeted to run conduit and wiring so the sound system could be upgraded in the future without difficulty.
Electronics for the hall including alarm systems, Internet, security cameras, telephone system, card access system and intercom are budgeted at $50,000.
The design calls for a single stage curtain at $25,000 with an option of black out curtains for a wall of glass behind the stage area and a telescoping portable stage for an additional $45,000.
Furniture for lobby areas and offices is budgeted at $50,000, said Kimmel.
All told the option list totals $1 million.
During a question and answer session, resident Jack Wichterman complained having only a catering kitchen in the new hall would pull the rug out from under the Kiwanis Club’s annual pancake fundraising breakfast. Mahaney said special arrangements would be made with the future restaurant owner in the hall to accommodate the breakfast.
Diane Hutchinson, president of the board of directors of the Mid Atlantic Center for the Arts, said the organization supported the design for a new Convention Hall. She said she believed the lack of a Convention Hall hurt business in Cape May this past summer.
“Just think of a Mozart concert with the sun setting in the background,” said Hutchinson, referring to the wall of windows behind the stage area.
Sal Riggi, a board member of the Cape May Jazz Festival, said the hall design was beautiful. He said the jazz festival was still paying off loses from their April event.
“We took a major hit not having that Convention Hall,” said Riggi.
He said he was sure the other jazz festival board members would encourage voters to approve the referendum.
“This design works for everybody,” said Riggi.