Will City Revisit Earlier Convention Hall Designs?

CAPE MAY — With City Council seeking a design for a smaller Convention Hall, will it revisit earlier conceptual drawings from architect Martin Kimmel?
In August 2007, the city was looking at five conceptual designs.
Scheme one presented by Kimmel showed a one-story convention center remaining in the existing footprint with a hall about the size of the current one at 8,000 square feet in a 12,2430 square foot building. Kimmel said it would just replace the current hall without a lot of changes other than better restrooms. Cost estimate: $4.2 million.
Scheme two would use 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 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 be 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 include 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.
At that time, Kimmel said the design would triple the amount of space in the current Convention Hall. The concept does not call for using an additional 50 feet of beach space, which could add 5,000 square feet of floor space per floor.
Cost estimate: $10.2 million.
At that time, Revitalization Committee members expressed a preference for scenario four, a one-story facility encompassing the Solarium