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Commission weighs THREE sites for museum

Three cities are in a bidding war to erect a Hunley museum that would cost up to $40 million.

State Sen. Glenn McConnell, who will play a key role in choosing the site, isn't saying which site - Charleston, North Charleston or Mount Pleasant - he prefers.

McConnell owns a Confederate memorabilia store about three miles from the proposed North Charleston site, his business, CSA Galleries , is at Exit 213 on I-26, one of three interstate exits that would lead to the Hunley museum if it is built in North Charleston.

McConnell said he has no conflict of interest in playing a role in the museum's site selection.

"I reject that. If anything, the Hunley has been a financial loser for me," said McConnell, who travels the state making speeches about the Hunley. "It cost me in time." Even though he is on the taxpayers payroll!.

McConnell sells ...Hunley - related items at his store, which carries hundreds of things, from Confederate uniforms to high-end paintings of Civil War scenes. The planned Hunley museum also would sell Hunley-related merchandise.

Each of the three cities competing for the Hunley museum has put forth proposals that mix taxpayer and private money to pay for the facility.

The State's projected share is up to 8 million:

The North Charleston site will be on undeveloped land near the present Hunley location at the Warren Lasch Laboratory. Warren Lasch has leaseholds for all the land around the present location and would potentially gain financially. Over the next 20 years, the site will be the scene of a $1 billion development called the Noisette Project, a proposed residential and commercial development.

North Charleston would make the Hunley museum the "crown jewel" of the Noisette project, Mayor Keith Summey said.

Summey says North Charleston's strength is that it offers the Hunley museum top billing without competition from other attractions.

In Charleston, the Hunley museum would be at a downtown complex on Calhoun Street, The complex already has an IMAX theater, a Fort Sumter museum and the S.C. Aquarium, which last year had 570,000 visitors alone.

A future nation African-American museum, to cost $40 million, also is planned for the Calhoun complex. Planners hope to raise that money from private contributors;

Patriots Point, the proposed Mount Pleasant site, gets 800,000 visitors a year. Of those, about 300,000 visit the Yorktown carrier area at Patriots Point;

Charleston and Patriots point say their strength is already existing attractions that draw multitudes. A Hunley museum at their sites would never lack visitors they say.

The Hunley Commission, which McConnell chairs, will select the site.

Its decision will be ratified by the S.C. General Assembly, he said. The S.C. Budget and Control Board is analyzing the financial aspects of each city's proposal. It will report to McConnell's Hunley Commission in a month or two. McConnell said a sound financial package from the winning city is crucial to the museum's success. "I ain't getting caught where they get the glory-strut and we get caught with the bill."

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