THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 1, 1995 TAG: 9509290169
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 07 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Focus: On the Street
SOURCE: Bill Reed
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
Why has Nauticus flopped and the Virginia Beach Marine Science Museum succeeded?
How about this for answer:
Proper planning from the start, a clear mission, realistic goals and a general openness with the public about the progress and anticipated results.
From the git-go, it was obvious that Nauticus, Norfolk's $52 million waterfront turkey, would never fly.
Why?
First, there were the grandiose plans for a four-star museum featuring something nautical in nature - no one really had a clear idea what.
Then there grandiose predictions of attracting 800,000 or more visitors a year and that - at 10 bucks a head - visitors would pay off the construction debt.
Nauticus opened in 1994 and bombed from the start. Attendance was dismally low; gate receipts were likewise. The original director, taking heat from critics, bailed out under fire.
Soon it became painfully apparent that Nauticus could not pay for itself and that the taxpayers of Norfolk would be saddled with the debt, despite a lot of hemming and hawing from City Hall.
The Virginia Marine Science Museum, on the other hand, is one of the top drawing museums in the state, rivaling the likes of Colonial Williamsburg, Monticello and the Mariners' Museum in Newport News.
It got that way by starting out modestly, with a definite mission in mind. That mission was to display live and static exhibits of flora and fauna that exist along the Virginia coast.
Best of all, the Marine Science Museum has paid its own way from the start. In the nine years since it opened its doors, says director C. Mac Rawls, it has accumulated a fund balance of nearly $1 million after bringing in about $10 million in receipts.
And, Rawls points out emphatically, the average city taxpayer - you and me - doesn't shell out a dime for the museum's daily operations.
There have been problems along the way, of course. The museum opened June 14, 1986 at a cost of $8.2 million - $490,000 over budget and a year behind schedule. Bad weather, lousy construction work and endless change orders contributed to the increase in cost and time.
But when it opened, it was a winner and now draws 335,000 ticket-buying customers a year.
Last April, work on a $35 million expansion got under way, with the goal of tripling the museum's size and doubling its attendance. The project should be completed in phases by the fall of 1996.
The expansion is being paid for in part through a $30 million injection from the city's Tourism Growth Investment Fund, a revenue pool fed by special taxes levied on hotels, restaurant sales and a number of amusement and resort franchise fees. TGIF was started in 1991 to pay off capital projects like the $18 million amphitheater now being constructed, more golf courses, an upgraded Boardwalk and others. It is paying for $40 million in Atlantic Avenue beautification work that will be completed next May.
All that is being done to bring more tourists to Virginia Beach on a year-round basis. More tourists means more tax revenues for the city coffers.
Of the $35 million to be spent for the museum expansion, $5 million is being raised in the form of private contributions. So far, a campaign committee has raised about $3 million, said Rawls. This money is to be used to buy exhibits and equipment for the expanded museum. The state, meanwhile, has kicked in about $425,000.
Generally, folks in Virginia Beach aren't gloating because Nauticus is a big white elephant. They just want it to be known that their museum works. It is a major attraction for tourists and locals alike. It pays for itself and probably will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
That depends, of course, on the people who oversee its operations. by CNB