Local, state and military officials on Tuesday celebrated the imminent construction of the National Coast Guard Museum behind Union Station.
After a decade of derailments, the latest estimates suggest the glass doors to the estimated $150 million museum could open in 2026.
Amid lunchtime nibbles and speeches at the Garde Arts Center, National Coast Guard Museum Association Chief Operating Officer Mark Walsh said steel will begin rising in December from 204 thick concrete mats that serve as the foundation of the 89,000-square-foot, six-story building. The frame of the building is expected to be complete in the spring of next year.
Association President West Pulver, a retired Coast Guard captain, put it this way: “It’s a lot of steel coming.”
Association Board of Directors Chairwoman Susan Curtin credited almost 7,000 private donors with raising $48.3 million so far toward the association’s $50 million goal.
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, chairman of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security that oversees the Coast Guard, credited himself with securing a matching $50 million in federal funding to keep the floundering project afloat.
That leaves the museum association with the task of raising another $50 million.
Patti Fazio, the association’s director of marketing and communications, said Tuesday afternoon that the association is investigating financing options.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told the crowd there’s no going back now.
“We’re launched; there’s liftoff. And we see the landing in 2026. It’s within sight,” he said. “There’s still going to be financial challenges, but we are determined to do whatever is necessary for the federal government to meet its obligation to establish this museum. It is long overdue.”
The Coast Guard remains the only branch of the armed services without a national museum.
U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, said federal funding for the museum is another symbol of the importance of maritime pursuits ― historically and in the future ― to the region.
“This is all happening at a time when the southeastern part of our state is really becoming a maritime history center of excellence,” he said.
The association’s Board of Directors on June 12 approved allotting $40 million for the current phase of construction, which includes the installation of the concrete mats consisting of rods drilled into the bedrock 10 feet deep to provide the stability needed to support the building.
The first phase of the museum project involved dismantling a portion of City Pier and installing a bulkhead wall to create land where there was once water.
Fazio said the board of directors plans to allocate funding for the next phase of construction in early 2025 to complete the exterior and interior of the building.
Mayor Michael Passero recognized an infusion of state and federal grant funding that has helped prepare the city to welcome an expected 300,000 museum visitors per year.
He pointed to streetscape improvements on Bank Street, the historic renovation of downtown buildings and the planned expansion of the Water Street parking garage by 400 spaces.
“There is no more appropriate site for this museum than on the banks of this historic harbor in this Coast Guard city,” Passero said.
The sentiment manifested itself after a group tour of the museum site when a driver slowed down to call out “looking sharp!” to several members of the Coast Guard standing next to Union Station in their dress uniforms.
“Thank you for your service,” the driver said.
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