THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 16, 1994 TAG: 9409160516
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL REED, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Short : 50 lines
The Virginia Marine Science Museum, one of the best-attended institutions of its kind in the state, is about to triple in size. Gov. George F. Allen will be on hand today to break ground for the expansion.
Allen is to speak at ceremonies that begin at 3 p.m. on the museum grounds, just off General Booth Boulevard on the east bank of Owl Creek.
What Allen and other dignitaries will find is work already in progress for a $30 million addition that will add 80,000 square feet of floor space and more than 400,000 gallons of aquarium space to the facility.
The expansion will also add to the museum's admission price, which is expected to jump to $8 to $10. It now costs $4.95 for adults and $4.25 for children 12 and younger.
Once the additions are completed, the museum, which draws more than 300,000 visitors a year, is expected to draw 700,000 or more annually, putting it in line with other major state museums and historical attractions.
For instance, Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's residence near Charlottesville, drew 622,269 last year; the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk drew 250,000; the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond drew 332,221 and an additional 331,000 to statewide exhibits; and Colonial Williamsburg drew 909,500.
Museum director C. Mac Rawls said construction should be completed and the additions opened in stages during 1996. When the last addition is opened, the original building will close for renovations for six months.
The original museum and the additions were designed by E. Verner Johnson, a Boston architect. The new construction is being done by W.M. Jordan, a Newport News contractor who built Nauticus, the Virginia Air & Space Museum and the latest addition to the Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters.
The museum project is the centerpiece of the city's 3-year-old Tourism Growth Investment Fund, a revenue pool created by special resort taxes to finance tourist-related construction over the next 10 years. ILLUSTRATION: BIG PLANS FOR MARINE SCIENCE MUSEUM
Graphic
JANET SHAUGHNESSY/Staff
SOURCE: Virginia Marine Science Museum
[For a copy of the graphic, see microfilm.]
KEYWORDS: TOURISM MUSEUM EXPANSION by CNB