New 3D Convention Hall Design Presented

CAPE MAY — Last night’s Convention Hall town meeting was too late for yesterday’s print edition noon deadline, but the Herald attended a preview presentation of a new 3-D design image to the city’s Convention Hall Committee July 23.
Architect Martin Kimmel, of Kimmel Bogrette of Conshohocken, Pa., presented the history of his participation in the Convention Hall project. He said the convention hall committee asked him to study options for what could be constructed on the current site with an option of demolishing the neighboring Solarium.
Kimmel showed a time line of design ideas he had prepared dating back to June 2007 ranging from a one-story 16,000-square-foot building with an estimated cost of $6.4 million on the current footprint to a 33,000-square-foot, two-story facility with lots of retail space, estimated to cost $13 million.
He returned to the committee in August 2007 with a revised plan for a building with a partially finished second floor that resembled a convention hall that was destroyed by a Nor’easter in 1962. It was priced at a maximum amount of $10 million and offered space for a restaurant and a central entry.
Another option presented in August moved the entrance to the right side of the hall with a glassed-in lobby on the side of the building that would offer beach and ocean views. The stage was moved to a north-south direction from its current east-west direction.
In January of this year, Kimmel presented a design, which featured a central entrance leading to a glassed in lobby with ocean views. He said he believed “we were so close to universal consensus,” on the design at that time after receiving suggestion from the many groups that would use the hall. A complaint, at the time, was the convention hall was not connected enough to the beach and ocean. Another complaint was the usable space was no larger than the current hall.
Kimmel returned in March with a design that pulled away from duplicating the building destroyed in 1962 and did away with a center entrance from the Promenade. The stage, which would now recess into the floor, was returned to the back wall of the hall facing the ocean. A retractable glass wall was designed behind the stage with an outdoor stage facing the beach.
Seating capacity was increased to 1,591 on the main floor with 300 additional in a balcony. Seats would fold into the wall when not in use to allow roller-skating and craft shows on the hall floor.
In Kimmel’s latest design, he presented as a 3D computer model, showed an entrance from the Promenade at the right front side of the building. The hall design features space for waterfront view restaurant and a lobby with beach and ocean views.
Kimmel said the design captures the archway of the historic, original hall.
Convention Hall Committee Chairman Skip Loughlin said the front facade of the building was driven by the interior design of the building, which followed requests of the public.
Mayor Edward J. Mahaney told reporters July 22 the city has not ruled out fixing up Convention Hall rather than demolishing the building this winter.
Repairs could act as stopgap measure to buy the city more time to find financing for a new hall. He said an option remains to restore the current hall rather than build a new one.
The Herald told the mayor it had received two anonymous phone calls questioning the accuracy of a report from the engineering firm of Pennoni Associates of Bethlehem, Pa. that caused the building to be closed. The caller claimed the engineering firm never inspected the hall.
Following that report, Convention Hall was closed on April 4. Pennoni Associates noted serious structural problems that could jeopardize public safety and create liability issues.
Mahaney said he read the engineering report and believed Pennoni Associates did inspect the building. He said council would revisit stabilizing the building to allow it to reopen without spending a tremendous amount of money.
After receiving two bids in excess of $300,000 to temporarily shore up Convention Hall city council voted on May 6, not to spend the money on the hall.
Then City Manager Luciano V. Corea Jr. told council Quinn Construction of Folcroft, Pa. presented a quote of $345,000 and Patton Construction of Pennsauken a quote of $311,000. He said the work would take four weeks to complete.
Corea called the quotes “best case numbers,” estimated before any excavation was started. He said the remedial repairs would require a CAFRA permit from the state Department of Environmental Protection although an interim emergency permit could be issued by DEP.
Corea, at that time, said the hall was not in danger of imminent collapse and offices of the recreation department and beach tag operations would remain in the front of Convention Hall.