National Coast Guard Museum project proceeding with bulkhead and fill work

Jan. 13—NEW LONDON — Four months after the start of construction work at the site of the future National Coast Guard Museum and nearly five months after officials held a keel-laying ceremony for the long-awaited project, City Pier looks very different.

The outer bulkhead has been driven down to bedrock, which Bill Seddon ― senior superintendent at construction company A/Z Corporation ― said was finished about two weeks ago. There are still 15 sheets to drive on the inner bulkhead, which he hopes to have done by Wednesday.

Beams are stacked beneath the lone tree in the vicinity and Seddon said starting next week they will be bolted through the bulkhead. Outside the outer bulkhead is an orange oil boom ― in case there's any spillage ― and orange turbidity curtain, so silt doesn't migrate into the river.

Seddon said there are about 200 steel piles for the building, and construction workers can typically drive about eight per day. But in one area with a lot of rock, it took four hours to get one installed because crews kept hitting obstructions.

Everything within the outer bulkhead will be filled in, and Seddon said backfill — loose, granular fill with no bearing capacity — will start being added Tuesday. He expects the bulkhead and fill phase to go until the end of February when the next phase, which calls for creating the foundations, begin.

Capt. Mark Walsh (ret.), chief operating officer of the National Coast Guard Museum Association, said there will be a garage door entrance on the south side of the building. The pedestrian bridge to be built over Water Street will curve into the western end, providing a second entrance.

Walsh said after the bulkhead and fill are completed, it will probably take 2 years to complete construction on the 80,000-plus-square-foot museum. He expects the summer of 2024 to be the biggest summer of construction, as the work this summer will be subterranean.

Mayor Michael Passero said the city is working to rearrange annual events that would normally take place at City Pier. He said "the communication's been great" between the association and the city, and he walks the site regularly.

Passero said it's "going to be interesting" in the summer of 2024, when construction of the pedestrian bridge will likely be underway, but "it's just temporary." And when the overpass is finished, he's excited about how it will "give everybody a bird's-eye view of our downtown."

He is seeing a change in people's attitudes when they hear about a new initiative "and they just assume pie in the sky, that's failure, blah blah blah, the whole negative thing."

"People are getting used to the fact that they hear about it, and it's happening," Passero said. "It happens now. Not everything, right? But most of our projects."

Association releases first interior architectural rendering

Earlier this month, the association shared on its Facebook page an architectural rendering of the atrium, saying the "soaring five-story space will make for a dramatic welcome, and it's sure to create lasting memories for all visitors."

While there are exterior renderings and the Coast Guard has done renderings of exhibits, this is the first interior architectural rendering.

A full-sized HH-60 Jayhawk will be suspended from the ceiling with a rescue swimmer underneath. Pulver said the helicopter is currently at Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, while the rescue swimmer will be designed and fabricated.

The helicopter will hang roughly where an excavator sits now, association President Capt. Wes Pulver (ret.) said ― though at a much higher elevation. Stephanie Balsam, lead architect for the museum with the Boston-based firm Payette, said the space was designed to accommodate the helicopter.

She described the atrium as a "sort of in-between space between the exterior and interior," where visitors are surrounded on two sides by glass and overhead doors open to the plaza. She said this gives them "some connection to the waterfront while they're experiencing exhibits within."

Balsam added, "You come in and feel the vastness of that space before entering into the museum proper."

Fundraising update

Pulver said about $7 million of work is being done now in the bulkhead and fill phase, out of the overall $150 million project cost. He said funding to date stands at about $136 million, up from the $131 million cited at the keel laying Aug. 19.

In addition to federal and state funding, the museum association has increased private fundraising from $31 million to $36 million in that time and has $14 million to go. Pulver said the association found out in December an anonymous donor will match large donations.

This is separate from Coast Guard planning and spending on exhibits.

Pulver said of the distinction between his association and the Coast Guard, "As we build the building, they're building the visitor experience."