Where will RI store its treasures? Two sites have emerged for proposed archives museum.

Once considered a pipe dream, a new $100 million Rhode Island state archives museum is closer than ever to being built.

Gov. Dan McKee's decision to include $70 million for the archives in his budget was a major victory for Secretary of State Gregg Amore, who is championing the project, and for his predecessor Nellie Gorbea, who spent years trying to build support for the idea.

But the project faces major hurdles just to get on the November ballot to see if voters think a dedicated building housing Rhode Island's historical documents and treasures is worth the cost.

First, state officials have to decide where to build it.

Where would the state archives be built?

From many possibilities, Amore says it's now down to two locations.

The front-runner is probably the Smith Street-facing plaza in front of the Powers Building – the pink-tinted home of the Department of Administration – which was the preferred site selected by Gorbea years ago.

But McKee's office has asked to investigate whether the land next door to the Providence Amtrak station might be a better option, Amore said in an interview.

While Amore said the Smith Street site remains his first choice, he acknowledges that the train station site is more visible and easier to reach by bus, rail or the giant Providence Place mall parking garage.

"We think there are serious questions about the buildability of that lot next to the train station because of the nature of the train tracks below," Amore said. "Archives are heavy buildings, right? Because so much is stored, the floor structure is really, really heavy. You can't really have it underground because of flooding concerns, because of fire suppression concerns."

The cautionary tale of a bus hub

The little-used field next to the train station south of the State House has long been eyed as a place for development for everything from an Amazon corporate headquarters to, most recently, a bus hub. Among other things, the complexities of building around and above the Northeast Corridor rail line have squelched prior plans to use the train station land.

In fact, the bus hub plan offers a cautionary tale about asking voters to approve borrowing for a project before ironing out the major details.

Gov. Lincoln Chafee proposed, and in 2014 voters approved, a bond including $35 million to build new Rhode Island Public Transit Authority infrastructure.

In the decade since the vote, state officials have pursued a wide array of bus hub plans at different locations, including: in the Garrahy courthouse parking garage, as part of a commercial building next to the train station, in Kennedy Plaza as part of a multi-hub plan, and on Dorrance Street.

Wanting to spend the money in Providence, McKee is now pursuing a bus hub on former Interstate 195 land, despite unanswered questions from actual bus riders about how they benefit from buses stopping near the highway.

More: Wild and weird facts about RI's Independent Man statue atop the State House

Amore said he understands the potential pitfalls of trying to fill in the details after voters weigh in.

"By the time voters vote on this issue, our working group will have coalesced around a location for sure, and we will have more information on the property adjacent to the train station," Amore said.

Why does McKee want to pursue the train station site?

"Proximity to the State House is an important factor in creating an archives building that can become a true tourist attraction for our state," McKee spokeswoman Olivia Darocha wrote in an email. "The Governor would like to see the working group explore multiple options that fit that bill, hence his suggestion of the train station building in addition to the Powers Building."

What other locations were considered?

The two-dozen-plus-member archives working group looked at numerous sites, including some not immediately adjacent to the capitol.

They looked at the Cranston Street Armory, which was rejected as an archives site years ago, and the Industrial Trust tower, aka the Superman Building.

Amore said the Armory was considered too expensive and complicated to turn into a museum. The Superman Building was passed over because it is privately owned and it would be even more complicated to fit the archives within the ongoing residential conversion project.

One other site next door to the State House was also seriously considered – the state-owned parking lot between the Rhode Island Credit Union and Veterans Memorial Auditorium. But that was considered too small.

That property was purchased under Chafee for $3.1 million in 2013 from a group of sellers that included former Senate Majority Leader John Hawkins and state Historian Laureate Patrick Conley. At the time it was turned into a parking lot for state workers, Chafee administration officials said it could be a future development site.

How much would building an archives museum cost?

In early 2019, when Gorbea first proposed a four-story archives building, the estimated cost was $52 million.

An updated estimate released in November pegged the same basic design in the same place at $101.7 million, according to Amore's budget request to McKee. Of that total, $82.7 million is for construction costs and the remainder is "soft costs," such as design, legal, permitting and furniture.

McKee's budget includes, pending voter approval, $60 million for the project, plus another $10 million from a state fund for property and infrastructure improvements. To get to the $101 million needed, Amore is seeking federal funds and philanthropic donations.

Money from Washington could come from an earmark or grants. In addition to the state's congressional delegation, the state is hoping lobbyist Rick McAuliffe will be working on archives fundraising.

If the state can get $20 million in federal dollars, Amore is optimistic the last $10 million could be raised through donations.

What would go in the archives?

Rhode Island's archives feature an array of historical documents, including the 1663 royal charter, an original copy of the Declaration of Independence and centuries worth of civic records.

Aside from the charter, which has its own miniature museum at the State House, the archives have been housed at a series of rented offices in downtown Providence, currently 33 Broad St.

Gorbea, Amore and preservationists have lobbied for a safer, climate-controlled facility to store the records and serve as an exhibition space, allowing more people to see them.

If built, the new archives would include a display area of "treasures," including the most important documents such as "the Bill of Rights, the act of renunciation, one or two of George Washington's letters to the state, and Lincoln's call for troops with his signature," Amore said.

A brand new archives building would allow the state to host traveling exhibits and works of art.

Amore said he has spoken to the National Park Service about hosting the painting of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment that now hangs in the American Revolution Museum in Philadelphia.

Other paintings that now hang in the State House could also go in the archives museum, he said, such as the Gilbert Stuart painting of George Washington that is now in the State Room.

"That's not the place that Gilbert Stuart should be preserved," he said.

When will voters know if the archives will be on the ballot?

McAuliffe and the congressional delegation will probably have until May to come up with federal money for the archives to show House budget writers the project is affordable before they will put it on the ballot.

A former state representative, Amore is well positioned to make the case for the archives to Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi, based on the loud cheers he received from former House colleagues at the State Of the State speech.

"I support the general concept of such a facility, but many questions remain," Shekarchi wrote in an email about the project. "Secretary of State Amore has indicated there should be an educational component to an archives building, so we should involve our private institutes of higher education in this effort, as well as actively seeking funding from federal and foundation sources."

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Two sites emerge for proposed RI archives museum