378 replies to this topic

[VicHockeyFan]

The RBC Museum gets just a tad under 500,000 visitors each year.  Maritime gets 20,000.  I think there are bigger issues.

[Sparky]

I am a Maritime Museum member and I have concerns about the handling of this move. I have been in the new proposed space at Steamship and I do not think it is big enough. I liked the old venue and they should not be still dealing with lease issues this late in the "move" game.

[Jill]

Didn't the last ED get tossed somewhat abruptly?

[Sparky]

^Yes.

[dasmo]

It's just not that good... I've been to our museum more times than I remember and would go again. I've been to the maritime museum once in a desperate moment with my son. No need to go again. The most interesting thing was the old elevator....

[Bingo]

It's just not that good... I've been to our museum more times than I remember and would go again. I've been to the maritime museum once in a desperate moment with my son. No need to go again. The most interesting thing was the old elevator....

 

Perhaps it would make a good museum of Horror with waxy figures, ghosts, real anacondas, zombies, and other spooky stuff.

[cakeman]

I worked on that old elevator once ,5-6 years ago.. neat old beast..  oldest or second oldest in Victoria, I forget..

 

This sounds like a death knell to me for the museum.. I mean who the heck closes the doors to income when at best you have 'a deal to discuss making a deal' .. and at that..  1/3 the space.. better layout or not.. 1/3 is 1/3..

 

Still, at least some of the '6 core staff' have probably had a couple months paid vacation.. so, good for them.. well.. until now, i spose..

 

cakes..

[VicHockeyFan]

City of Victoria calls on province to ensure Maritime Museum has new home

 

 

 

http://www.timescolo...-home-1.1778277

 

“Nothing is going to happen if the province isn’t motivated,” Coun. Pam Madoff said.

 

 

The museum announced its plans to move from Bastion Square in September 2014, and said it had signed a deal giving it the exclusive right to negotiate a long-term lease for space in the former CPR Steamship Terminal building on Belleville Street. The museum closed its doors on Oct. 21.

Its option to lease was set to expire Saturday, but has been extended to the end of March.

 

 

The museum has been trying to negotiate a lease for space on the bottom floor of the Steamship Terminal building, which is managed by the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority, through the province’s Shared Services agency.

Plans call for the museum to move into a space of about 6,500 square feet, considerably smaller than the 18,000 square feet it occupied in Bastion Square.

Harbour authority chairman Bill Wellburn told councillors last week that the harbour authority would welcome the museum in the building — “provided that it doesn’t cause us financial loss.”

“At the end of the day, we’re committed at breaking even on the Steamship Terminal building. We’re not in the business of subsidizing,” Wellburn said.

As the head tenant in the building, the harbour authority has significant financial commitments, including lease costs of $4 million over 10 years, said interim CEO Rick Crosby. The harbour authority has also invested about $2.6 million in physical improvements to the building to make it suitable for lease. “Those are big numbers and that’s some of the context in terms of dealing with the Maritime Museum and trying to bring them into the building,” Crosby said. “We have to make the numbers work.”

 

 

“But really it’s up to the province, and I don’t think that they can expect the Maritime Museum to suddenly be able to pay market rent when they have not paid market rent in the past and were not given a period of time in which to rise to that occasion when that bar was increased,” Madoff said.

 

 

Museum vice-chairman Clay Evans said negotiations are continuing. He said it was important to remember that the museum is a non-profit organization.

“In order for us to succeed in that building, we’ll need a creative solution,” Evans said.

 

 

There is a lot of dancing around words here, but at the end of the day, the museum needs an ongoing subsidy.

 

I'm still shaking my head, wondering why they closed their old location.

 

 

[Bingo]

Yes, it did seem like a strange decision to move if you don't have a new location to move into.

As a heritage building I think the old courthouse could be renovated and seismically upgraded and then they could move back in. 

I can't see them knocking that historic building down.

[Sparky]

This from the January newsletter to our members.

 

"There are also many “moving parts” to the transition process. Negotiations regarding the proposed long-term lease in the Steamship Terminal are now fully underway (there are five parties to these talks including ourselves, Shared-Services BC and the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority) and are at what I would term a critical juncture this month, so fingers crossed. In addition to the original proposal regarding the lower floor of the Steamship Terminal there is now the possibility of aligning this space with the 14,000 square foot water-lot out front, which in itself opens up a multitude of moorage, programming and additional space possibilities to the overall location, possibly in conjunction with the GVHA."
 

[dasmo]

Be nice for this to be an actually good museum. Fingers crossed the move helps achieve this. There are a few interesting pieces and models in there but not enough of an interesting experience to bring it past tourist trap status right now.

[spanky123]

Yes, it did seem like a strange decision to move if you don't have a new location to move into.

As a heritage building I think the old courthouse could be renovated and seismically upgraded and then they could move back in. 

I can't see them knocking that historic building down.

 

From what I understand, the MM has been losing money for years. The seismic argument was never really the factor, the museum couldn't afford the space they were in.

 

The game now seems to be to try and pressure the Province into giving them cheap space for a smaller exhibit. I doubt that is going to happen.

[LJ]

Who owns the old building they were in?

 

If they are willing to reduce their floor space by 2/3 in the new place couldn't they have done that in to old place to make the rent more affordable?

[Coreyburger]

The Province owns the building and has been trying to force MM to pay "market" rents for years. They simply stopped paying rent to the Province a few years ago, as they figured that the outcry of from the public would be huge. So the province figured out how to get them out: the seismic issue.

[spanky123]

The Province owns the building and has been trying to force MM to pay "market" rents for years. They simply stopped paying rent to the Province a few years ago, as they figured that the outcry of from the public would be huge. So the province figured out how to get them out: the seismic issue.

 

Not a surprise then that the Province isn't in a rush to "lease" them space again.

[Bingo]

The museum missed the boat.

The Kalakala would have made a good floating museum.

The car deck and other areas could have been used to display their stuff.

 

The Double Horseshoe Cafe was a triumph of Art Deco design.

Asahel Curtis Photograph, Washington State Historical Society

[dasmo]

They would need to make a better museum for s public outcry. The only protest you might get is if they wanted to decommission the elevator. if they are planning on shrinking they should just liquidate their inventory and dissolve IMO. Fort Rod Hill could take a bunch of their ship models to great benefit. Our real museum could probably take the rest. Why keep bailing a sinking ship?

[VicHockeyFan]

They would need to make a better museum for s public outcry. The only protest you might get is if they wanted to decommission the elevator. if they are planning on shrinking they should just liquidate their inventory and dissolve IMO. Fort Rod Hill could take a bunch of their ship models to great benefit. Our real museum could probably take the rest. Why keep bailing a sinking ship?

 

That's what I was thinking, the RBCM could take some stuff, rotate it.  Fort Rodd Hill is a neat idea too.

[dasmo]

It is a nice collection of ship models. But that's really all it is. Ford Rod Hill has a few places they could go I think. And Fort rod Hill is a jewel of the region, not a tourist trap.....

[Danma]

Fort Rodd Hill is awesome, and underrated. Beautiful venue with the lighthouse and the gun batteries are great.