Crescent City staff propose to revamp the Cultural Center to become a Discovery Center for both locals and visitors. | Concept art from Abbaté Designs LLC

Previously:

• Crescent City Council Moves Forward on Potential Cultural Center Revamp; Project Would Bring Redwood NSP, Redwood Parks Conservancy, Chamber of Commerce Under One Roof

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The local chamber of commerce will contribute $10,000 toward a multi-faceted revamp the Cultural Center in Crescent City, Mayor Blake Inscore reported Monday.

The Crescent City-Del Norte County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors also indicated a desire to enter into a formal agreement with the city over the organization’s use of the building, said Inscore, who is also the chamber treasurer.

“There has not been a formal MOU between the city and the Chamber of Commerce for use of the Cultural Center — for the comping of utilities or any of those things,” he said. “The board asked about some of those things that said, in a sense, ‘If we agree to be a financial partner, do we have assurance we will always be able to use the building?’ And the reality is we don’t have those documents.”

This news came about two weeks after Inscore and his colleagues authorized landscape architect Mike Abbaté, of Abbaté Designs, to move forward with the second phase of a project to determine if the 51-year-old building could become a Discovery Center.

The aim is to bring visitor-facing services from Redwood National and State Parks, the Redwood Parks Conservancy and the Chamber under one roof.

Phase 2 of the project is expected to cost up to $112,770. RNSP and the Redwood Parks Conservancy each pledged $25,000. With the Chamber’s $10,000 commitment, Crescent City’s portion of the project cost will be about $52,770, according to Inscore.

At the Council’s Dec. 4 meeting, Abbaté, a sub-consultant working with GreenWorks Design, described a project that would keep the building’s perimeter “more or less intact” while providing information, retail space and interpretive exhibits.

Phase 2 of the project includes conducting a site and building assessment as well as creating a schematic design that outlines where meeting rooms and offices could be in addition to the retail and interpretive areas, according to Abbaté. The second phase will also provide a cost estimate of the project, he said.

City Manager Eric Wier said the Cultural Center evaluation project could help the city obtain California Jobs First dollars. He said $9 million has been set aside to help “projects like this to get them shovel ready.”

Wier estimated that it would cost about $500,000 to $600,000 to get the Cultural Center project shovel ready.

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