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Battlefield center cost hits $125M
By MEG BERNHARDT
Evening Sun Reporter
Article Launched: 02/17/2007 07:55:40 AM EST
The latest figures are in and the new Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center is now expected to come with a price tag of $125 million – more than triple what it was originally estimated to cost.
Proponents say the extra funding will allow the center to be top-of-the-line and compete with other national historic museums.
After all, this is Gettysburg, they say, the turning point of the Civil War and a pilgrimage for millions of people every year. It deserves the best exhibits, an environmentally sustainable facility and a safe home for the long-neglected Cyclorama painting.
But critics wonder whether the non-profit Gettysburg Foundation will be able to pull the fundraising off and whether the foundation has been open enough through the process.
The foundation – a private entity created to raise money for the new center – originally estimated the project would cost $39 million. Then it was $42 million, then $52 million, and then $70 million. In 2002, the $95 million figure was unveiled along with the site plans.
To date, the foundation has raised $78 million and secured a $15 million loan which will be paid back over 20 years after the museum starts operating. Those figures don't include an additional $4 million from contractor Robert Kinsley, of which $3 million has been paid back, said foundation spokeswoman Dru Anne Neil.
The campaign will be used to build, furnish and operate the new visitors center, to preserve the park's collections of artifacts and archives, to return portions of the battlefield to their 1863 appearance, and to create an endowment for future preservation and maintenance needs, she said.
Back when the facility and campaign costs were expected to cost only $95 million, fundraisers announced a goal of having all of it by the end of 2006. With the loans, they're only $2 million away from that, and foundation president Bob Wilburn thinks they're progressing well.
He said he expects a total of $103 million can be raised within the next year or so, without funding from the state or federal government. The remaining $22 million will be raised over the long-term.
"I think (the increased fundraising goal) really speaks to the importance and interest in Gettysburg by people all over the country," Wilburn said.
The largest increases to project costs are for the museum exhibits and accompanying films and for the Cyclorama painting conservation, which Foundation and Park Service officials say was hard to estimate because of the scale of the restoration of the enormous 365-foot painting.
The National Park Service gave approval on the increased cost of the exhibits and other parts of the project.
"We consider this to be nothing but great, very good news," said Gettysburg National Military Park superintendent John Latschar. "As the beneficiary of all this, I'm pretty excited, and our visitors and supporters and constituents should be pretty excited too."
The public first got wind of the latest cost increase last month, when Park Service critic Eric Uberman made public a letter from Latschar that said the foundation would soon announce a new fundraising goal.
Uberman owns the American Civil War Museum, formerly the National Civil War Wax Museum on Steinwehr Avenue across from the current visitors center. When plans for the new visitors center were originally discussed, many downtown merchants, especially those along Steinwehr Avenue, expressed concerns the move across the park would hurt their businesses.
Uberman has criticized the foundation for years about the location of the new center and its cost. He wrote to the foundation starting in August to try to find out if the cost had gone up again, as he suspected. He was not surprised to hear it had gone up $35 million, and asked if it would go up even more in the future.
Uberman said although the foundation initially expected the center would be built without taxpayer funds, Congress allocated about $12 million to the conservation of the painting, so the public should be kept better informed, he said.
"It took them from August 2006 to February 2007 to answer a very simple question," Uberman said. "How much is the project going to cost?"
But Latschar says the estimates were always that – estimates, and were often for the minimal requirements. The foundation has said they are willing to raise more money for a better quality facility, and Latschar said the Park Service is happy to have it.
"We don't consider this to be withholding any information from the public," Latschar said. "(It means we've) carried it off with a higher degree of quality than the minimum requirements."
Wilburn points out $125 million, which includes a $10 million endowment, can be considered modest compared to some of the other historic sites in the nation.
The 160,000-square-foot National Constitution Center, which opened July 4, 2003, cost $185 million with a $40 million endowment. And 130,000-square-foot The American Revolution Center at Valley Forge, which will break ground in about three years, has a budget of $150 million, also with a $40 million endowment.
"The point is I wish we could do more," Wilburn said. "If you put it in perspective, Gettysburg really deserves more."
Latschar said he's grateful for a partner with an attitude like that.
"They say, 'Yeah we need to do this because this is Gettysburg and we need to do it right,'" Latschar said. "I think you can understand how we think we are truly blessed to have a partner with that kind of dedication."
The 139,000-square-foot facility is scheduled to open in spring 2008.
Contact Meg Bernhardt at mbernhardt@eveningsun.com.
By MEG BERNHARDT
Evening Sun Reporter
Article Launched: 02/17/2007 07:55:40 AM EST
The latest figures are in and the new Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center is now expected to come with a price tag of $125 million – more than triple what it was originally estimated to cost.
Proponents say the extra funding will allow the center to be top-of-the-line and compete with other national historic museums.
After all, this is Gettysburg, they say, the turning point of the Civil War and a pilgrimage for millions of people every year. It deserves the best exhibits, an environmentally sustainable facility and a safe home for the long-neglected Cyclorama painting.
But critics wonder whether the non-profit Gettysburg Foundation will be able to pull the fundraising off and whether the foundation has been open enough through the process.
The foundation – a private entity created to raise money for the new center – originally estimated the project would cost $39 million. Then it was $42 million, then $52 million, and then $70 million. In 2002, the $95 million figure was unveiled along with the site plans.
To date, the foundation has raised $78 million and secured a $15 million loan which will be paid back over 20 years after the museum starts operating. Those figures don't include an additional $4 million from contractor Robert Kinsley, of which $3 million has been paid back, said foundation spokeswoman Dru Anne Neil.
The campaign will be used to build, furnish and operate the new visitors center, to preserve the park's collections of artifacts and archives, to return portions of the battlefield to their 1863 appearance, and to create an endowment for future preservation and maintenance needs, she said.
Back when the facility and campaign costs were expected to cost only $95 million, fundraisers announced a goal of having all of it by the end of 2006. With the loans, they're only $2 million away from that, and foundation president Bob Wilburn thinks they're progressing well.
He said he expects a total of $103 million can be raised within the next year or so, without funding from the state or federal government. The remaining $22 million will be raised over the long-term.
"I think (the increased fundraising goal) really speaks to the importance and interest in Gettysburg by people all over the country," Wilburn said.
The largest increases to project costs are for the museum exhibits and accompanying films and for the Cyclorama painting conservation, which Foundation and Park Service officials say was hard to estimate because of the scale of the restoration of the enormous 365-foot painting.
The National Park Service gave approval on the increased cost of the exhibits and other parts of the project.
"We consider this to be nothing but great, very good news," said Gettysburg National Military Park superintendent John Latschar. "As the beneficiary of all this, I'm pretty excited, and our visitors and supporters and constituents should be pretty excited too."
The public first got wind of the latest cost increase last month, when Park Service critic Eric Uberman made public a letter from Latschar that said the foundation would soon announce a new fundraising goal.
Uberman owns the American Civil War Museum, formerly the National Civil War Wax Museum on Steinwehr Avenue across from the current visitors center. When plans for the new visitors center were originally discussed, many downtown merchants, especially those along Steinwehr Avenue, expressed concerns the move across the park would hurt their businesses.
Uberman has criticized the foundation for years about the location of the new center and its cost. He wrote to the foundation starting in August to try to find out if the cost had gone up again, as he suspected. He was not surprised to hear it had gone up $35 million, and asked if it would go up even more in the future.
Uberman said although the foundation initially expected the center would be built without taxpayer funds, Congress allocated about $12 million to the conservation of the painting, so the public should be kept better informed, he said.
"It took them from August 2006 to February 2007 to answer a very simple question," Uberman said. "How much is the project going to cost?"
But Latschar says the estimates were always that – estimates, and were often for the minimal requirements. The foundation has said they are willing to raise more money for a better quality facility, and Latschar said the Park Service is happy to have it.
"We don't consider this to be withholding any information from the public," Latschar said. "(It means we've) carried it off with a higher degree of quality than the minimum requirements."
Wilburn points out $125 million, which includes a $10 million endowment, can be considered modest compared to some of the other historic sites in the nation.
The 160,000-square-foot National Constitution Center, which opened July 4, 2003, cost $185 million with a $40 million endowment. And 130,000-square-foot The American Revolution Center at Valley Forge, which will break ground in about three years, has a budget of $150 million, also with a $40 million endowment.
"The point is I wish we could do more," Wilburn said. "If you put it in perspective, Gettysburg really deserves more."
Latschar said he's grateful for a partner with an attitude like that.
"They say, 'Yeah we need to do this because this is Gettysburg and we need to do it right,'" Latschar said. "I think you can understand how we think we are truly blessed to have a partner with that kind of dedication."
The 139,000-square-foot facility is scheduled to open in spring 2008.
Contact Meg Bernhardt at mbernhardt@eveningsun.com.
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