Nonprofit hasn’t heard about museum plan

[unhappycamper]

Plans to build the National Naval and Maritime Museum on Washington’s Southwest waterfront are stalled, with no commitment from the Navy.


Nonprofit hasn’t heard about museum plan
By Mark D. Faram - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Nov 7, 2009 9:11:56 EST

Most sailors don’t even know the Navy has a museum in the national capital region. It’s tucked away in the Washington Navy Yard behind heavy security, accessible only to the few persistent enough to get access.

In fact, the Navy has 12 museums around the country, receiving a combined 1.2 million visitors each year. That’s slightly more than the 1 million annual visitors Marine Corps gets at its new museum just outside the gates of Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., south of Washington, D.C.

But there’s a group that wants to help the Navy change that. The National Maritime Heritage Foundation has proposed to Navy History and Heritage Command the establishment of a public-private partnership to raise an estimated $205 million needed to build a D.C.-area museum.

The cost to the Navy would be roughly $78 million, with the foundation raising the rest of the initial cost of the museum. But on top of that, the plan would include creating a $250 million endowment to keep the museum running into the future.

In contrast, the Marine Corps put up $50 million in a similar public-private agreement to build their museum.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2009/11/navy_museum_plan_110709w/