Some Residents Asking for a Smaller Convention Hall

CAPE MAY — A number of residents are calling for the city to scale back the design for a new Convention Hall to a more modest, less expensive facility perhaps remaining in the footprint of the current building.
At an April 21 City Council meeting, innkeeper Jay Schatz, who chairs the city’s Shade Tree Commission and Hotel-Motel Association, said he was one of 400 people that voted against a $10.5 million bond ordinance in a public referendum.
“I think it is the wrong size building, the wrong design in the wrong location…” he said.
Resident James Wyatt sent a letter to the editor of the Herald last week calling for using earlier design concepts for a new Convention Hall that were in the price range of $6.7 million to $8.7 million.
There have been a lot of twist and turns in the saga of building a new hall. Here’s a refresher course in what has happened to date.
In November 2005, Charles Johnson of Johnson Consulting presented a feasibility study for constructing a new hall. One plan called for a new convention hall with a second floor with a ballroom. The hall would have extended 40 feet closer to the ocean.
The design would demolish the city-owned Solarium, Johnson said. Cost of the hall would be about $16 million.
An alternative would be to spend an additional $5 million to extend to the convention center down the Promenade to encompass space currently used by retail shops and Henry’s on the Beach Restaurant.
Then City Manager Luciano V. Corea Jr. told council it would need to decide if it wanted to build a $5 million or $8 million convention hall that would duplicate the current hall and “basically incur no additional benefit from it…”
“Or do you want to develop a facility that would attract additional tourism and convention type events?” he asked.
In February 2006, the city’s Revitalization Committee was considering recommending to council that a new hall be constructed next to Cape May Elementary School on Lafayette Street.
In March 2006, the idea of moving the hall next to the school was eliminated and Corea suggested the city lease the land under convention hall to a private firm to build a new convention hall, thus incurring no expense to taxpayers. At that time, the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA), approved up to a $3 million grant for a new convention hall depending on the total cost and scope of the project.
In May 2007, representatives from the city met with the Cordish Company, the developer that built “The Walk” in Atlantic City as a possible partner in constructing a new convention hall for Cape May. Nothing came of the idea.
At a July 2007 meeting, Architect Martin Kimmel presented five design concepts with prices ranging from $4.2 million to $10.2 million in cost.
Scheme one showed a one-story convention center remaining in the existing footprint with a hall about the size of the current one. Cost estimate: $4.2 million.
At that time, Corea said CRDA would contribute $609,000 leaving the city with a net cost $3.6 million.
Scheme two would have used the existing footprint plus 50-feet of the beach to create retail space at the promenade end of the convention center creating a 16,000 square-foot building. Estimated cost: $5.4 million.
Scheme three would have created create a two-story building creating a 23,345 square-foot convention hall, placing the main hall on the second floor allowing more retail on the first floor. Cost estimate: $6.6 million.
Scheme four would have been a one-story convention center demolishing the Solarium and creating an arcade. The center would have 17,600 square feet including a main hall of 8,500 square feet, two retail stores, a kitchen, a formal lobby, administrative office and storage area. Cost estimate: $5.6 million.
Scenario five used the same footprint as scenario four but added a second floor creating a total of 35,365 feet of space. The design would have included space for up to six retails shops and conference meeting rooms on the first floor. The second floor would accommodate a hall of 11,000 square feet. Cost estimate was $10.2 million.
At a special meeting Aug. 1, 2007, committee members told Kimmel they wanted the new hall to resemble an earlier convention hall that was destroyed by a 1962 winter storm that featured a center arcade with retail stores facing the boardwalk. They also favored a one-story hall that would require demolishing the Solarium to obtain extra space.
Committee members suggested making the building “green,” by using solar panels and other renewal energy sources. Kimmel said a geothermal heating and cooling system would add about $400,000 in costs but would pay for itself within five years.
Later in August 2007, Kimmel returned with two redesigned plans, both showing an exterior that would have looked at home in Cape May at the turn of the century.
Option one floor plan featured space for four retail stores along the promenade, a “great hall” would measure 8,500 square feet, which was slightly larger than the current hall, said Kimmel.
He offered an option for a limited second story on the hall. The area above the great hall would not be available since it would have a high ceiling.
Available on a second floor would be three conference rooms, a public meeting room, and additional restrooms.
He presented an option two, which located the entrance and lobby/pre-function space on the side of the hall and placed the stage on the side of the hall that faces Morrow’s Nut House.
The cost of constructing a single story, option one convention hall would have been $6.7 million, said Kimmel. Adding a second floor would have increased costs $1.5 million to $2.2 million, he said at that time.
In January 2008, demolition of Convention Hall was projected to begin Dec. 8 with a new facility opening May 1, 2010. Kimmel brought council an updated conceptual design for a new hall.
The hall would be two-stories tall with an option to build-out the second floor and resemble the 1917 hall and encompass the footprint of both the existing convention hall and Solarium.
Corea said the new auditorium would have a flat floor and not offer graduated or “stadium” seating.
There will be a fixed, raised stage and backstage area with dressing rooms. Corea said there would be no option to divide the auditorium into two rooms.
In February 2008, Kimmel projected about a hall with 950 seats with a sloped floor set-up or approximately 1,200 to 1,300 seats with a flat floor. Kimmel said the new hall would be equal to a high school auditorium in lighting and sound capabilities.
In February 2008, then Mayor Jerome E. Inderwies announced a one-year delay on the project, which would push the date to begin construction to December 2009. He said council needed to reevaluate the project.
In March 2008, Kimmel presented a new conceptual design for Convention Hall that offers sweeping changes to earlier proposals.
Convention Hall Committee members reacted favorably to the new design which included a different look for the exterior, an entirely glass wall behind the stage which would be positioned to the ocean side of the hall. A previously proposed center entrance to the hall from the Promenade would be eliminated, replaced by a side entrance to a grand lobby offering beach and ocean views.
At that time, Corea told Kimmel to assume he had a building budget not to exceed $10 million. He said his reply from Kimmel warned a year’s delay on the construction of a new Convention Hall would increase the cost by up to $1 million dollars based on current inflation figures.
Kimmel proposed a stage that would disappear into the floor to offer flat floor space for uses such as craft shows and roller-skating.
With a new directive from the city, Kimmel said he did not need to recreate the Convention Hall that washed away in a winter storm in 1962. He said the new design would “fit in with Cape May” and “provide greater connections to the ocean.”
The grand hall design increased in size from 8,300 square feet to 10,500 square feet without increasing the overall building square footage, said Kimmel. Seating would increase from about 850 to 1,383 on the first floor.
City officials shuttered the current Convention Hall April 4, 2008 after receiving a structural analysis of the building that recommended immediately closing the facility to the public.
On May 20 2008, City Council unanimously approved a $10.5 million bond to pay for the construction of a new Convention Hall
The ordinance estimated the total cost of a new Convention Hall at $11.6 million including $1.1 million from an ordinance adopted by council Dec. 18, 2007. That same month, after receiving two bids in excess of $300,000 to temporarily shore up Convention Hall council voted not to spend the money on the existing hall.
In June 2008, a committee asking for a voter referendum on the $10.5 million bond ordinance passed by council to finance the construction of a new convention hall. The group presented a petition with 222 signatures.
In July 2008, City Council voted unanimously to rescind the bond ordinance.
Council introduced a new $10.5 million bond ordinance July 21 which was to be subject to a binding voter referendum in the Nov. 4 general election.
In that same month, following a presentation of a 3D design concept for a new Convention Hall from Kimmel at a town meeting, the public offered their comments, in particular, on the façade of the proposed building. While the interior remained the same as a previous presentation with a glass wall at the rear of the stage and a seating capacity exceeding 1,500 seats, the façade was more modern. A number of residents again called for a façade resembling Cape May’s first Convention Hall built in 1917.
On September 3, 2008, City Council gave its support for Kimmel’s design number five as the basis for a preliminary design for a new Convention Hall. The design was mostly contemporary with some hints of the first Convention Hall
At an Aug. 26, 2008 town meeting, Mayor Edward J. Mahaney Jr. said council considered nine designs from Kimmel and decided the 1917 facade would be too vulnerable to storm damage.
Mahaney said council has arrived at consensus for the style of the building and Kimmel would now move on with a preliminary design to present to voters before the Nov. 4 election.
In late September 2008, council was faced with making a decision as to what features a new Convention Hall should have such as solar panels, wind turbines and how much it wanted to spend on auditorium seating, stage lighting and sound reinforcement.
Kimmel projected demolition of the old hall estimated at $150,000 with the cost of constructing a new convention hall at $9.2 million. He estimated a contingency construction cost of 6 percent or $540,000.
Council had $984,000 left to spend on features of the building.
On Nov. 4, 2008, voters approved the financing to construct a new $10.5 million Convention Hall in an 818-421 vote, a two to one margin.
In January 2009, City Councilman David Kurkowski announced a non-profit organization is forming to raise money to purchase additional amenities for the city’s new Convention Hall.
In April 2009, the city submitted an application for a CAFRA permit for the new hall the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Mahaney met with the city’s Tourism Commission Aug. 26, 2009 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 said the size of the catering kitchen has been doubled and restaurant design has been expanded to make it more attractive to potential operators.
Mahaney said the main hall would accommodate 1,151 seats with a soundproof partition to divide the room in half with a floor allowing multiple uses. Three community rooms will be located on the second floor, one room with a capacity for 75 persons and two other with a capacity of six persons.
Additional restrooms have been added to the hall design, he said. The building would be heated and cooled by a geothermal system. Otherwise, the building remained as voters approved it.
In January 2010, Mahaney announced DEP has issued a CAFRA permit for the construction of a new Convention Hall. The new building would have to be brought 24 feet closer to Beach Avenue to keep it off sand behind the current Solarium building.
City Council approved a $10,000 contract with the firm of Hunter Roberts Construction Group to review Convention Hall bid specifications, plans and specifications, which have been completed by the architect and engineers for the project.
On March 18, a number of contractors were seated in City Hall Auditorium for the bid opening for the construction contract for a new Convention Hall but the bid opening was postponed.
Bid packages were returned to contractors unopened and another bid opening scheduled for March 30 at 2 p.m.
City Council rejected the only submitted bid received to relocate the Solarium. The $180,000 bid was from J. Hauck, of Absecon.
On March 30, 11 construction companies submitted bids. Bids for the basic building ranged from $10.8 million to $12.1 million. Promenade reconstruction bids ranged from $300,000 to $1 million. Geothermal system bids ranged from $381,000 to $1.1 million.
Bids combining the basic building, Promenade and geothermal system ranged from $11.6 million from Domus Construction to $13.2 million from Adams Bickels and Associates. Four bids were made in the $12.4 to $12.6 range.
City Council rejected all 11 bids submitted by construction companies March 30 since all exceeded the $10.5-million bond approved by voters in 2008.
The remainder of April will be used by the city to refine the bid documents and after April 30, go out to bid once again with a two-week period for submission of bids, said Mahaney.